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Haiti

Haiti: A shelter to recover

ACTED is dedicated to providing decent housing to the earthquake affected-populations by facilitating the return to the existing houses and by constructing transitional shelters for 4,200 families of Port-au-Prince and Leogane.

1.5 million homeless people. Some 7 months after the devastating earthquake, thousands of families still live in emergency shelters or in tents and have not found proper housing. The whole of humanitarian actors, the Haitian authorities and the international organizations are working together to provide adequate housing to those still living in temporary accommodation. Given the scope of the task and the logistical difficulties, the process is proving to be a real challenge.

20,000 tarpaulins for the affected populations

In the days and weeks which have followed the disaster, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to sleep outside in spontaneous settlements, in organized camps or in front of their own house for the luckiest. ACTED staff decided to support these populations by distributing tarpaulins and shelter kits (with construction tools, rope, and other basic materials) to reinforce the shelters that had been built up in haste and to make them weather-resistant, to cope with the scorching sun but first and foremost with the rain showers that have hit the island for some weeks.

Shifting towards sustainable solutions

Overall, over 2 million tarpaulins have been given out by NGOs, including ACTED which distirbuted 20,000; that is two per affected-family. Emergency needs have been fulfilled but they remain temporary solutions. Indeed, people need sustainable housing solutions providing protection for the whole family and a base for early recovery, before thinking about building a proper house again.

From the very first weeks of our intervention in the country, our teams have been preparing this transition from an emergency set up to a transitory approach with the construction of T Shelters (transitional shelters). These semi-permanent shelters will provide an in-between solution before households recover the means to build something definitive. The task is daunting: some 105,000 houses have been completely destroyed and another 189,000 are seriously damaged and need to be rehabilitated.

Improving access to decent housing

The tremors which have hit Haiti regularly since January 12th have nourished the anguish of many earthquake affected-people that prefer to stay under makeshift shelters rather than returning to their homes. In order to facilitate the returning of these populations to their home places and to best identify those who will need a temporary shelter, the Haitian government has proceeded with the assessment of all of the buildings in Port-au-Prince. ACTED's civil engineers have been working on their side on the assessment of the 12,000 houses in Leogane. Every day, two teams spread over the city and go from one house to the other. "It is a team's work; our goal is to come up with a quick and reliable diagnosis of the structure of the building, easy for the inhabitants to understand and to trust", explains Gedeon, one of the civil engineers who has been dedicated to this task for several weeks now. According to Aurélie, ACTED shelter project manager, "this assessment is a solution contributing to the returning of the populations in houses considered as safe. And it is all the more important that this issue has really become a priority in the country". The teams come up with a technical assessment, but also take time to explain the process and the decision, as well as to sensitize populations on the risks of going back in the houses marked with a red cross, while providing some advice on the steps to follow for the buildings bearing a yellow square.

"In any case, we take time to exchange with the family", insists Gedeon, even with those whose house has been marked in green. But let us be clear; we do not assert that these buildings can sustain another earthquake...But the impact of our work is clearly visible and in many instances people have been rushing back into their homes less than an hour after been given a green light". As of today, over 6,000 buildings have been assessed. For those who cannot return to their home, ACTED has been working on a large scale programme of T Shelter construction.

Building?semi-permanent shelters

ACTED has chosen to build scalable shelters with the contribution of beneficiaries during the process in order to provide housing that best fits the real needs of the Haitians. These shelters abide by commonly agreed construction quality standards set up by all actors involved in the process: shelters must be at least 18m² in size in Leogane, a bit less in Port-au-Prince where space is limited. They must be weather-resistant and resist level 1 storms. They must also be easily removable and transported if needed. These shelters will accommodate 5 people households during three years. But we are already foreseeing a longer use for these shelters which will be designed to evolve according to the needs of those living in it. ACTED's T Shelters are not only meant to be dismantled and rebuilt in a different place, but they will also be the base for a more sustainable building as they are composed of a basic wood-frame with tarpaulins and metal sheet roofs. "These shelters have passed all the tests and we have managed to maintain low construction costs compared with those of other NGOs", underlines Cyril, ACTED area coordinator for Leogane: "thanks to that we will simply be able to build more with the funds we have".

4,200 shelters

ACTED staff has already started the construction of 1,889 of these shelters in Leogane. ACTED started in July a second construction phase in Port-au-Prince where 2,300 additional T Shelters will be raised in the upcoming months, with the support of the American Red Cross, the Fondation de France, and the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Deparment. Each one of them will provide improved living conditions. But the programme will also benefit hundreds of people who will work in the framework of this massive project; from the carpenters in the shelter construction unit up to the Cash for Work teams that will build the shelters on location. Everyone is part of a full scale programme that will see 20 shelters produced every day which will then be set up in a few hours by the beneficiaries and dedicated staff. Some 21,000 people will thus benefit from improved housing, a prerequisite for sound recovery. In all, aid agencies have committed to building over 135,000 of these shelters before 2012.