Aid to Haiti

The Larger and Faster, the Better

Misfortunes never come alone, but the horrendous natural calamity coming on top of human disasters in Haiti is just too horrible for words.

It is heartrending, indeed to see the small Caribbean state, the first republic in the world founded by former black slaves about two centuries ago, which once enjoyed a status as the region's richest country, turned into one of the poorest nations on this planet and now lie in near total ruin.

If Koreans find some sympathy with Haiti's history, which started with liberation from colonizers and is strewn with a succession of dictatorships and coup d'etats, it is because theirs modern story wasn't much different.

The Haitians may have to mainly blame themselves for the current failed state. But foreign powers, including the United States, can hardly be free from some responsibility for their handling of their tiny neighbor, having alternated between forceful intervention in its internal affairs and near complete neglect.

It may sound somewhat cruel, but if humans can ― and should ― find some room for hope even in the most unlikely moment, it should be now. As soon as the world finishes rescuing Haiti from the current confusion, the first thing it should do is turn attention to the country's dismal economic and social situations. With a per capita income of $700, it is little wonder that 75 percent of its population lives on less than $2 a day, and 50 percent, less than $1 a day.

One only has to recall the photo showing some Haitian children eating ``clay cookies," while one of the biggest problems for their counterparts only a few hundred kilometers across the sea is child obesity.

It is welcome news the government has decided to send $1 million worth of medicines and other supplies to the quake-ravaged country. The amount should not be seen as too small; its similar to those from China and India, but as not too large, either, compared with $5 million from Japan, let alone the $100 million from the U.S. Considering Brazil with a similar economic size to Korea's has sent $10 million, Seoul might as well maximize its assistance within its capacity, despite the difference in geography and other situations. Also timing is crucial in everything, and nowhere is this truer than in relief aid, so Seoul had better hurry up.

Korea needs only to think back six decades. We Koreans, blessed with living in a land relatively free from massive natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons ― at least so far ― turned their nation into ruins through a human disaster at the time in part because of our own problems and because of outside influences.

It was help from other global villagers that helped Korea to write its modern ashes-to-riches history. The nation should help others do so.