Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
September 2012
Online 672
Sally Garrington
USA
NORTH AMERICAN
PLATE Caribbean
Sea HAITI
Carrefour
HAITI Gressier
Mexico Bahamas Léogâne Port au Prince
Dominican
Cuba Republic
Jacmel
Epicentre
0 50 km Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
CARIBBEAN
PLATE
Venezuela
COCOS PLATE
Colombia
SOUTH Key
AMERICAN
PLATE BOUNDARIES
PLATE
Transform (Conservative)
NAZCA PLATE Convergent (Destructive)
0 1000 km Divergent (Constructive)
Undefined
Eventually tents were flown in and should be stressed that some NGOs continued. Another serious problem
up to 1500 camps were set up all were very well run with minimal was that of rape and other sexual
over Port-au-Prince. Sanitation operating costs and servicing a attacks within the camps. Women
arrangements were hopelessly definite need (see Merlin website at and girls were vulnerable as they
inadequate, and the encampments end of unit). were still in tents which could be
were soon awash with excrement. easily broken into, and they had
There was only one delivery of Later actions little privacy at the latrines or
drinking water a week and so people washing facilities. Many women
were forced to consume untreated By July 2010 98% of the rubble from had lost their husbands and
water, which had a disastrous impact the earthquake remained uncleared felt unprotected in the crowded
later on in the crisis. Cholera spread and 1.6 million people were still conditions. The camps were badly lit
rapidly. living in temporary camps (although at night and there was no policing,
this fell to 1 million by September). and gangs of youths and men were
Communications, including roads, By then many of the original tents carrying out rapes knowing they
and electricity were severely supplied as shelter were falling would not be caught. Although
damaged which hampered attempts apart and much of the funding that Haiti had a poor record of protecting
to distribute aid. After a few days the had been donated was not getting women and girls even before the
unretrieved corpses trapped in the through to those most in need. The earthquake, the situation in the
rubble of buildings began to decay World Bank had cancelled half of camps was far worse, with girls as
in the high heat and humidity and Haiti’s debt and given the country young as ten being attacked.
with thousands of corpses stored in five years before it had to begin
overcrowded morgues there was a repayments of the remaining half.
Cash for work programmes had been The cholera outbreak
need for drastic action if disease was
to be avoided. Most bodies were set up to enable some Haitians to With such crowded and unsanitary
buried in mass graves using earth- support themselves. 20% of all jobs conditions, doctors had been
moving machinery, usually before had disappeared due to the impact of warning about the outbreak of
they could be identified, such was the earthquake. Most buildings that serious disease since the quake
the urgency. had not collapsed in Port-au-Prince occurred. In October 2010 the first
had been assessed as to the safety or case of cholera was identified. Haiti
otherwise of their structure. Some had been cholera-free for over 100
The NGO problem aid money was used to pay Haitian years. When it was announced
As the country did not have an engineers and surveyors to carry out that the particular strain was one
emergency plan in place and the the work. Each building was colour found in south-east Asia, there was
UN had lost so many personnel, tagged after assessment: an uprising of bad feeling against
there was a lack of co-ordination the UN peacekeeping force from
in the first few weeks and it • Red (21%) meaning the building Nepal, from where the disease
was three weeks before the aid would have to be demolished had allegedly been brought in. By
organisations could meet up with • Yellow (26%) for those requiring November 2011 there had been
the Humanitarian Co-ordinator of repairs before reoccupation over 6,900 deaths attributed to
the UN (who was a replacement as • Green (54%) that were safe to the disease and more than 500,000
the original post-holder had died occupy cases reported. The young and the
in the earthquake). Many NGOs elderly are the most vulnerable to
Community-driven development this water-borne disease, which is
flew in to help but most had not
projects were started by the World transmitted by bacteria found in the
investigated what the needs were
Bank which worked with local faeces of infected people. Vomiting
of the survivors. Very few spoke
people to provide the help they and diarrhoea lead to dehydration
French so it was difficult to know
wanted in order to rebuild homes and death can occur within four
what people wanted. There was no
and communities. Homes had to hours, yet cholera can be treated
linkage and so projects were left
comply with building codes and successfully with antibiotics and
half-done; there was duplication
had to be constructed in a hazard rehydration salts. However, there
of aid in some areas, while others
resilient way. However, these was neither enough expertise in the
received no aid at all. With so many
projects were too few to make a disease nor enough medical staff.
NGOs there was a replication of
large impact. In addition the World The lack of clean drinking water
their needs too. Lots of money was
Bank funded supplementary food and the problem of the disposal of
spent on buying transport vehicles
for 200,000 children aged 6-23 human wastes meant that the disease
and arranging accommodation
months as well as funding schools really got a grip within the country,
for the aid workers so operational
for 140,000 children within camps. and it is now assessed as endemic.
costs were sometimes higher than
New water supply systems were set Although the number of cases is
the amount of help that eventually
up in six rural locations as part of falling at present, it is thought that
got to the population. Most NGOs
the move to encourage people to stay once the rainy season returns in
tended to be operating in a top-down
in the countryside rather than add to 2012, there will be a resurgence of
way, delivering what they felt was
the pressures in Port-au-Prince. cholera cases.
needed. An overall co-ordinator was
needed to determine the ‘three Ws’:
Who? (which NGO), What ? (what Problems in the camps Haiti a year on
they are offering) and Where? (their Few of the camps had competent Gradually the country is beginning
location), to avoid duplication and camp managers and the problems to recover; for example, health
to provide a focus on actual needs. It of water supply and sanitation care in Port-au-Prince is of a
better quality now than before the Figure 4: Park’s model (or hazard response curve) adapted for Haiti
earthquake, but what will happen
Improvement
when the NGOs leave? There is a Normality
need for a long-term strategy. Many
of the survivors are traumatised Jan 12th Planning for future
is underway. Limited
2010
by the events they have witnessed, implementation
Quality of Life
and thousands of amputees are left
without hope of a job or any other Jan 12th 2011
Not yet fully
means of making a living. Some of recovered
the Haitian nurses who worked for Greater disruption
the NGOs have opted to continue as more vulnerable Longer to recover because
of poor capacity to cope
working for them elsewhere, or to
leave the country to go to the USA Pre disaster Emergency relief Rehabilitation Reconstruction
where they will receive better pay. Time
Haiti’s brain drain continues at a
time when it is most desperately in Figure 5: Haiti’s Action Plan for National Recovery and Development
need of its skilled workers. As of
Area of Focus What it involves
January 2011 the relief appeal stood
at over $1 billion, 72% of what is 1.Territorial Rebuilding GeoFileDecentralisation
Series 30 Issue 1of services away from Port-
required. 810,000 people are still au-Prince. Land reform
Fig 672_04 Mac/eps/illustrator 15 s/s ensuring clear laws
in the camps but 700,000 have now for land tenure.
NELSON THORNES PUBLISHING
Artist: David Russell Illustration
left, 35,000 to move to transitional 2. Economic Rebuilding Modernisation and further development of
shelters before finally moving back agricultural, manufacturing, construction and
into a house. 95% of the children in tourism sectors.
the earthquake zone have returned 3. Social Rebuilding Aim for universal primary education, an
to school, which is one positive sign improved and expanded Higher Education
of recovery. Figure 4 shows Park’s sector and a healthcare system that operates
model adapted to show the situation nationwide and not just in urban areas.
in Haiti. Haiti is only now beginning 4. Institutional Rebuilding Modernise the legal framework of the
to move into the reconstruction country and get the core state functions
phase; it has a long way to go before up and running – eventually independently
it can get back even to any level of of aid. Have clear targets for transparency
normality. and accountability in government actions to
reduce corruption levels.
Conclusion
stockpiles and bottled water. There
Haiti is a vulnerable country with a will be more co-ordination and Website resources
long history of unstable government working with the military in order to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/
and has had a number of severe clear roads to access areas to receive americas/2010/haiti_earthquake/
disasters to contend with during aid. Foreign aid will be responsible default.stm - BBC page dedicated
the last 10 years. However, the aid to a Haitian co-ordinator who will to news and short videos of the
to the country in response to the direct what aid is sent where and earthquake and its aftermath.
earthquake and the highlighting who will have an overview. Camps
of its problems has led to some http://www.merlin.org.uk/haiti?gcli
need to be organised with security d=CNWP8dmw2rACFcQKfAod2H
positive results. On 31 March 2010 in mind to protect the vulnerable,
the Haitian government presented g6zA - Haiti pages of the site of the
especially women and girls. NGO Merlin
to the UN its Plan of Action for
Recovery and Development (Figure In 2010 the international aid
5). There is a recognised need for agencies tended to take over and
the training of more health workers they undermined Haiti’s ability to
and offering jobs to keep them in the respond. Although Haiti was not
country. Teachers are to be trained well prepared, its people know what
in dealing with traumatised children they need after a disaster. It is to be
and there is to be the development of hoped that with better co-ordination
manufacturing industries, with the and different priorities Haiti will be
help of the EU and the World Bank. better able to face any future natural
disasters.
There are plans to decentralise so
that resources are put into rural areas
to act as a counterweight to the pull
of Port-au-Prince. Micro-finance is Focus Questions
being offered to enable small-scale
entrepreneurs to begin businesses 1 Using Figures 1 and 2 explain why, when a natural disaster occurs in
that will hopefully provide more jobs Haiti, it is so vulnerable to the impacts and has limited capacity to cope.
in the future.
2 ‘The response to the Haitian earthquake could have been better
Haiti is beginning to draw up a managed.’ Discuss.
Disaster Plan which includes food
Geofile Online © Nelson Thornes 2012