at al jazeera. coming up at the top of the hour. after six months on the run. the drug king known as melissa chan is behind bars. the next stop is the u.s. with three weeks to the iowa caucuses, presidential candidates lay out their plans for the economy. also, a deeper look. >> we have been part of the fibre of this nation for centuries. >> muslim americans with a race for the white house. all that and more ahead. on january 12th to 2010, the ground shook between the porous county, a devastating earthquake in more than 200 years. aid groups descended. billions poured in. what happened since may shock you. tonight, a special edition of "on target". haiti or shaky ground.

. >> for a country and people no strangers to hardship. the tragedy is cruel, incomprehensible. >> water, electricity has collapsed almost entirely this coming tuesday marks six years since a massive earthquake rocked haiti, killing or injury hundreds of thousands of haitians. leaving more than a million. in response, thousands of aid workers were dispatched, raising billions in donations. many of you texted personal contributions. more than 43 million was connected in that way alone in total. more than 13 billion was pledged worldwide. where did that go. i'll take you on a journey through the slums much porta prince, and across the rural

badlands. and you'll hear the politicians, the haitians who are trying to peace their lives together. you'll also hear from the people most accountable for what has and has not happened. the list includes the head of the united nations mission in haiti, the director of the american red cross in latin america, and the man that run haiti for the last decade. and the president that ran haiti. first the money dral. david ari otto was there. and covered the devastation, six years later we sent him back to investigate how billions was spent. here is part one of this "on target" report. haiti on shaky ground. six years ago security camures captured this seen from

inside haiti's presidential palace. when the dust settled more than 150,000 would have perished from an earthquake ripping through the western hemisphere's porous nation. the only bright spot, massive world attention. aid groups descended, people in governments pledge 13 million in disaster relief. michelle obama... >> we can all do something, we can help the american red cross as it delivers food, water and medicine that can save lives. >> and actor sean penn. >> reach deep, and reach deeper. >> $13 billion, a staggering outpouring, doubling the economic output of haiti before the quake. half a decade after the

devastation, a number of reports posed the question, where did the money go. a year later we travelled to haiti, to find out if things had improved. at first glance, port-au-prince appears to be a city on the rebound. the rubble is gone and construction is under way. a closer look reveals tens of thousands of haitians are still living under tents and on the streets. homes have no running water, and there's a single latrine for 82 people, raw sewage runs through the streets

this is an elected official in the neighbourhooding saying there are some 32,000 people still here, living in tents. still refugees from the earthquake. >> so when was the last time someone from the international community was here to help? > he's saying the french red cross was here in 2014, but the tarps date back to 2011. you can see them. there are holes in them. they don't hold water, and many express a degree of anger.

despite some 10,000 aid groups working in haiti, there are 73 sites where families are living in tents. to try to get answers, we went to meet a person running the relief effort. special representative. where is the united nations in terms of achieving goals and terms in terms of housing, water sanitation. when you drive around different parts of the capital, there are tent cities, and we talk about money coming from after the earthquake. >> if i'm not mistaken, the figure, the number of people in the camps is 60,000. so this look is ongoing. >> it's huge. >> it's a huge number. 60,000 internally displaced people. nearly six years after the

earthquake. >> when you consider that after the earthquake there were some 1.5 million people living in camps for the internally displaced, i think the statistics speak for themselves. >> is your message for the people in the camps, hold on for a couple of months. we are working on programs and plans to move these people out of the camps. it's a 13 billion mystery. coming up. searching for signs of recovery in quake-ravaged haiti. >> it's not clear when you walk around the neighbourhood. where all the money was spent.

six years after the haiti earthquakes, scars of the disaster are visible for all to see. it may be unthable given that haiti is the western hemispheres

poorest country. haiti did not go it alone. foreign donors pledged more than 13 million to rebuild. more than double the economic output for the quake. the amount of money pledged is less than the amount of money victims actually received. the hatian government says less than 8 billion was actually dispersed. of that 8 billion, it's not clear if the money was well spent. >> six years on, david ariosto travelled to find out. here is more of our report. haiti on shaky ground. [ ♪ ] >> reporter: we have come to a place which is on the outskirts of port-au-prince. the reason we have come here, this is an area where earthquake refugees were sent. we came to see for ourselves what progress has been made

there were some signs of development here, houses built in this complex, but many of the people here are living in the transitional shelters built after the earthquake, you see what is behind me, thin wooden boards that do not provide much protection from the elements. it's not clear when you walk around the neighbourhood, where all the money was spent. the climate here is arid. soil is salty, making growing cropsive. water must be trucked in, and residents reaching the markets. much of what was built after the quake was temporary. in this dusty community. many say the shelters have a

permanent film. fewer than one in five are considered long term solutions. as a result, many live in makeshift homes and scratch out a living. pa pass few places where it is more evident. the american red cos received half a billion. part of a 24 million projects that pledged to build several hundred new homes for victims of the quake. today, nearly gix years can. a smokesman explained that it adjust the what it determined as

landmeasures. it was hard to decipher who needed what. something that frustrated residents. >> the red cross say that's it instead focuses on rental assistance, home repairs and infrastructure. improvements are evident. but many live in shacks. natasha, a resident here, says that despite all the aid dollars, the help many promised were still to come. so where, then, did all the money go. the red cross boasts projects, many which benefitted haitians.

but specifically, now nearly half a billion in aid was parcelled out is not always well accounted for. for instance, an internal red cross evacuation determines there was:. >> i think what happeneded in haiti is they had so much funny, more than the other institutions, that they became their own development agency and donor, they distributed money to other organization, like a grandee. it presented interesting challenges for the red cross, and they ventured into an area they were not as comfortable operating in. >> the red cross used 40 contractors. and that is where the money trail goes combed. following aid dollars, as they pass from group to group and contract to contract across haiti is heerl possible. as each attracts administrator

fees. the aid shrinks. subcontracting is part of the problem. >> the way it's set up, the institutions, organizations that receive funding are responsible to their funders, and not to the communities. >> in total, roughly 13 billion was pledged to haiti after the quake. according to the hatian government. only about $9 billion was allocated. in fact, 94% of humanitarian aid went to foreign organizations due to concerns of local corruption. analysts say that kind of delivery undermines civil society, and sads bureaucracy -- and adds bureaucracy that makes them more accountable to funders than the population. >> we have to look for solutions. they are not going to come from the international communities. they have to come from us. we have to stop accepting some

poisonous gift. >> in the meantime. the structure in haiti remains, and allows tens of thousands to remain here, living under a ten and still on shaky ground. >> david ariosto was in haiti. you have gone back. in your mind, is it clear, despite the criticism that almost half the money has not gone to where it should be, do you see big improvement? >> you can't understate how bad it was, when we arrived the city city seemed like it collapsed. there were bodies on the streets, the presidential palace crumble. the scope of the devastation, was something that the hatian government was overwhelmed by. that's why a lot of the aid came in. it was twice the amount of g.d.p.

haiti was not in this alone. the amount of aid workers that descended, you'd think there would be tens of thousands on the streets. you walk around the tent camps, there's no running water. people have a single latrine. you can't get a sense how frustrating the people are. in the sense six years later they are living in the tent cities. >> you look at the money but is suffered from infrastructure. a lot of buildings collapse said, they were not built to the code we are suicide to. >> nobody is saying haiti prior to the earthquake was utopian. the frustration that many have, the amount of money, and the lack of progress. you see construction in the

capital. the rubble is mostly going, there's evidence of a resurgence. it's the outskirts where you repetitive problems, in terms of identifying how it would play out with infrastructure concerns many have. when you look at haiti, one of the biggest things to keep in mind. this is a country reliant on the community for years. they have more than 10,000 aid groups doing everything. water sanitation to trash removal. these are things that basic civil society is supposed to take hold of, as a result of foreign aid. they rely on foreign institutions. >> it is not getting built properly. haiti has a history of corruption. >> this is the argument that many hear about. the clienton foundation says we'll have to be the go between

in terms of getting things down. there's the concern of corruption. so many leaders have been implicated over the different ties. as a foreign investor, it's hard to have the confidence. at the same time, when you don't have that, you are not building self-sustaining institutions. as a result, the bigger problem is the haitians themselves will start to gravitate towards jobs, you have a brain drain away from the civil society orienting to the international community. they have not as a result stood on their own. >> cooing up. i'll try to find out what went wrong with a worldwide effort to help haiti, from one of the bosses at the red cross. >> you gotta do somethin', you know? try to keep your head

above water. >> sunday... $38. thursday... $36. for this kind of money, i really don't give a s*át. >> a real look at the american dream. only on al jazeera america.

i'm talking tonight about the 2010 earthquake in haiti, and the huge financial outpouring it sparked in countries across the gloib. america donated tens of millions. the american red cross received 488 million to help haiti. six years later, lots are asking where did the money go. earlier you heard david ariosto

report on the state in a port-au-prince nation. they had high hopes for a red cross project designed to build 700 homes. no one at the red cross could tell us how many homes were built. i spoke with lesley schaefer, the american red cross's regional director. here is our conversation. >> we have built today homes for 350 families. but that is out of a total target of 500. and that's only a fraction of the work that we have done to date. in haiti, the american red cross helped to put 22,000 families back in safer homes, safer conditions, helping them leave the camps. and it's really not - it doesn't do justice to not talk about the bigger picture. the american red cross is involved in all types of programming, aside from housing. we invested in health and health

infrastructure, we funded the operations and construction of eight hospitals and clinics. we have funded first waste water treatment plant. we are involved in economic development programming that helps create savings & loan groups in the communities, all throughout the area that we work. >> and you heard our report, you heard david's reporting, we are thorough about telling the story. you are involved in more than 100 proents on the ground, and a lot of funny that was raised has gone to real projects. but to get it out of the way, it's been said that the project that we are talking about, they said six houses were guilt, you say more than that, you say 350. >> yes, there's no truth to that. that project, again, has a target of 500. you mentioned a target, which is

fair to say, as we budget for programs, we put figure on paper, but the most important first step is to engage the communities that we are there to serve. the community itself prioritised the development that it wanted for that neighbourhood, and, of course, it's surprising to many, many people. but, in fact, housing is not on the first five or 10 things on the list. what the people in the communities want is access to water, sanitation, access to health care. they want to make sure their children are going to schools that are safe. we have engaged in that community and others in the reconstruction of schools, in the reconstruction of clinics and hospitals, and, in fact, if you watched that, you will see

the tremendous change over time. we have invested in sidewalks, and staircases and installing hundreds of lights in that community. water systems, sanitation services. >> i think our reporting is pretty fair on this, we outlined that you spent a lot of funny, you did a lot of work, and there's no question that the red cross was chosen by michelle obama to direct funding because of its reputation. the red cross contracted out to more than 50 companies doing relief work. some are haitian companies, some are not. when i give my money to the red cross, i have an impression of a brand and a trust that the red cross spent decade in building. there seems to be a controversy as you go down to contractors and subcontractors. give me some context around

this. >> sure. the american public entrusted funds to us. we take that responsibility very seriously. in fact, we believe that one of our greatest strengths is working in collaboration with like-minded organizations, not companies that you suggest. and we have sought out organizations that have specific capacities and skills to compliment the work we are do and the commitment we have. they help us to build hospitals, job training, and work side by side with staff and volunteers in all the project sites. one thing that i should add is that we believe that working collaboratively is much more proficient. it helps to avoid duplication of efforts. ensure gaps are covered. and helps us expand our reach, and that is what the american

people gave funding to do. to save lives and help as many haitians recover from the disaster. we work closely with the organizations to negotiate overheads to remain as low as possible. in some cases they are zero, we believe it's an effective and more efficient way to leverage the dollar. and the american people should be proud. >> on target, a week from now, part two of our special report. haiti on shaky ground. >> to bring people from a country where cholera is endemic "on target", a week from now, part two of our report - haiti, on shaky ground. >> to bring people from a country where a cholera is endemic, i mean that was criminal. >> recent testing indicated with

almost certainty that this particular train of cholera came from u.n. relief workers. >> that is on target next week. that's it, i'm ali velshi, the news continues on al jazeera america. >> previously on hard earned. >> happy birthday! and here's your whistle for when you've fallen and you can't get up. >> bitch. >> i was sad. >> we didn't get the loan. >> we even put it on our calendar, a little picture of a house. >> today was another terrible day at walgreens. just happy to get home and get to my little ones. >> i always wanted to be a midwife.