It is a special problem to prevent corruption in efforts to help regions debilitated by natural or manmade crisis. Just like the article below, this one from NYT is about Pakistanis protesting the graft that has diminished the assistance that victims of the recent earthquake there receive. Oxfam agrees.

Crisis is by its very nature unpredictable, and institutions that are supposed to take responsibility for distributing and managing funds are usually in a state of disarray after events like earthquakes and wars. How do we make sure that money gets to the right people? International aid organizations have an obligation to their funders to make sure that money is not doled out for just any expenditure (see Hurricane Katrina debit card post in mid September on this blog). On the other hand, development organizations should be giving responsibility to those native to the region as much as possible. But it is difficult to find people who can bridge that gap.