VZCZCXYZ0006
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKT #0080/01 0281131
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281131Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1359
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3486
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7668
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 3019
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 5707

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000080 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO 
 
STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV OPRC NP
SUBJ: MEDIA REACTION: LESSONS FROM HAITI 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Nepal's popular English daily Republica 
(circulation: 15,000) on Thursday, January 28, 
carried an opinion piece "Lessons from Haiti" 
written by Sukhdev Shah, an economist and a former 
nominee as Nepal's ambassador to the United States. 
Shah draws on the similarities, political and 
economic, between Nepal and Haiti and comments on 
the "sheer mismanagement" that has pushed both 
countries into chaos.  He predicts that if Nepal 
were to meet a fate such as Haiti's, Nepal would be 
in much-worse condition in terms of receiving aid 
and getting international attention.  He goes on to 
suggest that Nepal needs "to create strong linkages 
with countries around the world and, most 
importantly, with its neighbors, particularly India. 
Even in good times, the country needs considerable 
amount of outside assistance to stay afloat and 
carry out rudiments of development programs." 
 
¶2.  EXCERPTS: "... Situated on two ends of the 
world, Haiti and Nepal are quite dissimilar in many 
respects but there are also surprising similarities. 
First, both are distinguished by their extreme 
poverty, characterized by the lowest per capita 
incomes in their respective regions-Haiti in Western 
Hemisphere and Nepal in Asia-Pacific. Second, both 
have been victims of dictatorships.  ... Both 
countries suffered from dynastic regimes in 
predictable ways-countries run by cronies and 
courtiers with absolute disregard for the interests 
of the people they governed.  Third, the end of 
dictatorships in both countries was followed by the 
emergence of chaotic politics-democratic or 
otherwise-which made no difference for most people 
in terms of living standards and civil liberties, 
and the quality of life actually diminished with the 
increase of violence and the worsening of law and 
order. And last but not the least, both countries 
share similar bleak future, which has meant a mass 
exodus of their people in search of better 
opportunities outside of the country. 
 
¶3.  "Economic mismanagement and political disarray 
has also meant a severely weakened governance system 
that, among other things, was incapable of or, more 
likely, disinterested in the setting of standards 
and enforcement of building codes which, along with 
the overall poverty of the population, led to the 
construction of buildings in a most haphazard 
manner, with least amount of attention paid to the 
stability of structures in the event of cyclones and 
floods, much less to withstand the calamities of 
major earthquakes of the type that just happened in 
Haiti." 
 
¶4.  "There is no intention here to imply that Haiti- 
like calamity is just about to happen in Nepal but 
this cannot be more improbable than the recent 
predictions of the melting of Himalayan glaciers by 
the year 2035, despite the revelation last week that 
prediction was based on faulty research.  But 
assuming Nepal being hit by a Haiti-type earthquake, 
what kind of damage do we envisage, and the strength 
of subsequent relief and reconstruction efforts? ... 
It looks that the country would face a total 
collapse of human-built facilities and disappearance 
of a way of life built over hundreds of years." 
 
¶5.  "However, the much more frightening prospect, 
compared to Haiti's situation, is that of the level 
and quality of support Nepal could receive if it 
faces a calamity comparable to Haiti's.  As it looks, 
in view of the international attention and sizeable 
amount of material and cash aid Haiti has received 
and been promised, Nepal would be in a much inferior 
position to expect more than a fraction of it.  We 
can point out a few reasons. First, Nepal does not 
have a sea access, which Haiti has, and this makes 
the delivery of relief supplies both insufficient 
and costly. Second, we do not have an economic 
superpower next door, both willing and able to 
help." 
 
¶6.  "Looking at the prospect of long-term assistance 
for rehabilitation and reconstruction that may take 
at least a decade, Nepal would need a much larger 
amount of aid than what is being talked about for 
Haiti." 
 
¶7.  "The lesson Nepal can learn from Haiti's 
experience is that, being a small and poor country 
with very constraining geographic location, it needs 
to create strong linkages with countries around the 
world and, most importantly, with its neighbors, 
particularly India. Even in good times, the country 
needs considerable amount of outside assistance to 
stay afloat and carry out rudiments of development 
programs. The need for such assistance can increase 
many fold during national emergencies and especially 
when it meets disasters of the kind Haiti has 
encountered." 
 
ORDWAY