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Haiti

Haiti: Six Months Along the Road to Recovery

8. July 2010, Medair

Haiti - Medair provides an update on its work in Haiti now that six months have passed since a major earthquake struck and shook this country to the core, tragically killing approximately 230,000 people and leaving more than one million homeless

Within days of the 12 January earthquake, Medair had a team on-the-ground to assess the situation and determine how best to provide assistance to people who were in shock at the scope of their loss.

"Given the scale of the disaster and the fact that the Haitian people were already so vulnerable before the earthquake, we feel compelled to take action for people who so gravely need our help," said John Farmer, Medair Director of Operations, three days after the earthquake.

In Jacmel, the Directorate of Civil Protection estimated that the earthquake damaged approximately 80 percent of the buildings in the town. Yet, two weeks after the quake, our assessment team found that almost nothing had yet been done about the need for shelter there, with tens of thousands of newly homeless sleeping in the streets or in temporary camps.

Medair quickly identified the provision of safe shelter as a priority need, and the team began working with Jacmel's local authorities and other NGOs to coordinate an effective response.

First Response

As the team reported back their findings and shared stories about the devastation, Medair's private donors responded with impassioned and generous contributions that empowered Medair to launch what has become a significant rehabilitation programme for the people of Haiti.

Medair's first step was to work with the community to clear away the rubble from damaged homes. With durable shelter options difficult to procure in Haiti-and with local deforestation limiting other construction options-Medair purchased transitional shelters from overseas: shelters that were then shipped to a country in ruins.

"At first, the logistics of moving supplies into and through a destroyed country was a significant challenge," recalled Cindy Serre, Deputy Country Director. "But thanks to the generosity of Medair's individual donors, the shelters began arriving within weeks. Having made great progress with rubble clearance, Jacmel families soon benefited from shelters being set up on their cleared plots."

A Comprehensive Shelter Programme

In April, the Medair programme grew significantly, an expansion made possible by the generosity of the American people, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). As a result, Medair is now providing safer shelters for at least 4,500 households (27,000 people) in Jacmel and in the surrounding rural areas, while also providing cash-for-work opportunities for local labourers.

"We provide two kinds of shelters," said Lahatra Rakotondradalo, Medair Shelter Advisor. "The 'WWS' (Worldwide Shelters Series 1100) is a quick-assembly steel-framed structure which gets covered with heavy canvas at first, and later, in phase two, the frames are integrated to a reinforced concrete foundation to create a more permanent home."

Lahatra, an engineer from Madagascar on a long-term contract with Medair, is ideally suited for working in hurricane-prone Haiti. Her expertise is in designing structures that can withstand the recurrent cyclone conditions in her home country.

"The second shelter we are constructing is an 'ESK' (Emergency Shelter Kit), which is a transitional shelter that I designed," added Lahatra. "Its simple, effective design only takes three days to build, using imported timber to preserve the scarce natural resources of Haiti, and local construction techniques.

"The shelter is optimally designed to withstand hurricanes and future earthquakes, but it is also designed so that the beneficiaries can carry out improvements and repairs themselves in the future. We researched local methods and used these as the basis for additional technical elements such as hurricane straps and diagonal bracing."

After Six Months

Medair has made impressive strides during the first six months of the programme. A total of 616 shelters have been constructed or rehabilitated, providing safe housing for more than 3,000 vulnerable people in rural, urban, and suburban Jacmel.

"I could not have provided this shelter for my family by myself," said 35-year-old Evince Samedy, one of the first shelter recipients. "I am so happy. It would take me five or ten years to provide this. The most important thing for us was to have a safe and good place to sleep. Now that we have received this from Medair, we can look for food and other things."

Medair's staff have also conducted technical assessments of thousands of homes and registered approximately 3,400 beneficiaries so far who will receive shelters or repairs. Fifty staff have been recruited locally to fill a range of important Medair positions, and Medair has paid local carpenters and masons for more than 6,000 days of labour.

Medair has 900 more tonnes of supplies in the pipeline scheduled to arrive in July. As Haiti's infrastructure continues to recover from the earthquake, the logistical supply chains are gradually easing, thus speeding up the construction process.

"Over the past six months, Medair has been scaling up, getting supplies in, recruiting and capacity-building competent staff, mobilising communities, refining our shelter designs, and completing safe shelters for thousands of people," said Eleanor Dougoud, Country Director. "We've had a very encouraging start.

"So far throughout all of Haiti, agencies have completed a combined total of 5,535 transitional shelters. Medair is now positioned to make an even greater impact in Haiti with our essential shelter programme, as we begin a significant surge forward in scale and output."

Medair's transitional shelter programme in Haiti is made possible by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Medair Haiti programme is also supported by Läkarmissionen and by ICAP.

Medair arrived on-the-ground in Haiti within days of the devastating 12 January 2010 earthquake. Our team has conducted assessments of damaged homes, identified families in need of aid, and coordinated rubble clearance from properties to make space for new transitional shelters. Medair is now providing safer shelters for at least 4,500 households in Jacmel and the surrounding rural areas.

This press release was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.

For media, please contact:

Janneke de Kruijf - Media Officer (languages English and German)

E-mail: janneke.dekruijf@medair.org.

Tel. +41.78.6353095