Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Haiti

DFID Haiti Earthquake 2010 Situation Report - 1600 hrs, 09 February 2010

Attachments

Headlines:

- Government of Haiti Civil Protection Agency assessed number of deaths at 212,000, and the estimated number of injured at more than 300,000. More than 1.2 million people are in spontaneous settlements and 467,701 people have left Port-au-Prince for outlying departments. Over 162,000 people have arrived in Artibonite department and over 90,000 in Centre department.

- Thousands of people are reported to have arrived from Port-au-Prince to villages along the border with the Dominican Republic. This region is considered one of the poorest in the Dominican Republic. No clear assessment information is yet available on the impact of this influx of new arrivals.

- OCHA report that in Leogane approximately 14,000 people are living in spontaneous settlement sites, while others are living closer to their destroyed homes. An estimated total of 80,000 to 120,000 people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Leogane commune.

- Concerns by implementing agencies on the ground that committees established by communities in settlements are sometimes self-appointed and unrepresentative of the entire settlement population. In some cases this is hindering the equitable, non-discriminatory distribution of humanitarian aid.

- The Ministry of Education aims to re-open all schools before the end of March. Some schools in unaffected areas have re-opened but attendance rates are low. The Ministry is planning a widespread communications campaign to encourage return to school. It is also discussing the potential for learning material incentive packages for children and the need for psychosocial support programmes in primary schools.

- Shelter: The cluster reports that approximately 272,000 have received emergency shelter support so far. Tarpaulins in country and in the pipeline are sufficient for distribution of almost 1 tarpaulin per family. Phase 2 (more durable) shelter specifications are being discussed. Common shelter/NFI pipeline and common shelter/NFI procurement are being discussed and are broadly welcomed by cluster partners. Concerns are being raised by partners about land tenure for settlement sites.

- Food: After 8 days of surge operations WFP has reached 1.1m with a 2 week ration of rice. A new distribution phase begins on 14 February to target 2m people. It is not clear yet what will actually be in the food basket, what distribution points will be used, how distributions will be managed, or what will happen outside PaP. Questions are also being raised with WFP about an assessment of phase 1 operations, how WFP's continued operations will link into the market analysis that is underway and other ongoing food security assessments, as well as cash-for-work initiatives that have begun in affected areas.

- Health: There has been no significant rise in infections, although there has been a slight increase in diarrhoea and urinary tract infections. The health sub clusters in Jacmel and Leogane report relatively good health coverage. Trauma cases are slowly decreasing, but still represent more than 10% of cases.

- WASH: 15 de-sludging trucks are in country (but not all are in affected areas). At least 90 more are needed. Agencies and donors are beginning to look now at procuring more trucks. The WASH cluster strategy is due on 10 February. Water provision coverage has now reached 72% according to the Cluster lead with coverage of latrines at 5% of the requirement.

- Logistics: Incoming flights to Port-au-Prince airport continues to drop and now averages 74 per day (from its peak of 160 flights) as incoming air cargo increasingly shifts to sea transport. The Port-au-Prince port is handling an average of 350 containers per day. The installation of two floating docks at the port, will be completed by the weekend and will increase capacity to a possible 1,500 containers per day. UNHAS is establishing a passenger service to locations within Haiti, in affected and non-affected departments.