Five years later Haiti still tragically suffers from 2010's earthquake: Where did $13.5 billion dollars in relief funds go?

Haiti continues to struggle rebuilding itself after massive earthquake, despite billions of dollars raised around the world.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake rattled Haiti in 2010 destroying nearly everything, and leaving 220,000 people dead and 300,000 injured. The entire world was shaken by this disaster; 13.5 billion dollars in donations and pledges was raised to help the country recover.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Five years and 13.5 billion dollars later, 85,000 people still live in displacement camps and spend every day in unbearable, disastrous conditions. How is it possible that much of Haiti still suffers? Where did all the money go?

"You have donors disburse money, but that doesn't mean all that money is spent on the ground," said Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research to NBC News. "If the expectation was to build back better and transform Haiti's public sector, then yes, by any measure it's been a failure. But that isn't to say there have not been successes."

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A list of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) expenditures is as follows: "emergency food for 4 million, temporary shelter for 1.5 million, 2.7 million cubic meters of rubble removed, 600 classrooms created, construction of a power plant for a new U.S.-brokered factory park, support for 160 health clinics, funding to arrest a cholera outbreak that killed nearly 9,000, better technology for farmers, and the creation of permanent housing," according to NBC News.

The housing program was a near failure for USAID. The budget was raised to $97 million from $59 million, as the initial goal of houses built was cut from 15,000 houses to 2,649. Only 900 have been built so far.

"We realized we are not going to come anywhere close to building the kind of housing stock Haiti requires," explained Beth Hogan, an administer for USAID to NBC News. Therefore, the plan has changed to focus financing Haitians to build and improve housing themselves.

"If you gave $10 to the American Red Cross, eventually, 90 percent of that money would have gotten spent on something - part of a tarp to go over a family's head, part of a bag of rice to feed a couple of people, salary or transportation for American aid worker. That money would have been spent very, very quickly," Jonathan Katz, author of 'The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster said. "There's no practical connection between putting a tarp over someone's head on Day 3 or 7 and putting a roof over someone's head five years later."

Although some of the money is being spent effectively, a lot of it is being thrown away in failed plans.

The USAID initially planned on building a new port in northeastern Haiti, but after many delays, increased costs, and the lack of use from the port it was cancelled. This happened after $4.5 million was already spent on feasibility studies for the port.

$12.9 million was spent to develop a Creole-based school curriculum that received poor grades of hope.

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Other benefactors have spent a noticeable percentage of the raised money on expenses that have nothing to do with Haiti reconstruction; money was used on internal expenses such as, salaries, travel and office/warehouse expenses.

USAID acknowledges the delivered faults and is attempting to fix them. The new goal is to give 17 percent of funding directly to the Haitian people.

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