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The earthquake that killed about two hundred thousand people in Haiti exactly two weeks ago, has also left as many as one million people homeless. As the government of Rene Preval struggles to find its footing, most of the 2,500 rescue workers that arrived from all over the world have now returned to their homes. Emergency relief efforts are slowly shifting to long-term rebuilding even as thousands remain in dire need of basic food and water. Much of the immediate aid is now focusing on sanitation to prevent disease in the post-earthquake rubble and moving hundreds of thousands of people from makeshift camps into better organized tent communities. In fact, President Preval is focusing his efforts on moving as many as four hundred thousand homeless Haitians into temporary tent camps outside the capital. But the aid agency Oxfam sees the move as problematic, with one of their spokesmen recently commenting, “The camps must not become warehouses of people waiting for permanent homes that never materialize.”

GUEST: Mike Delaney, Director of Humanitarian Response at Oxfam International

For more information, visit www.oxfam.org. Check www.kpfk.org for a list of worthy organizations to donate to for Haiti relief efforts.

NOTE: The IRS has just announced that donations made to charities for Haiti relief before February 28th 2010, can be deducted from your 2009 tax returns.