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Haiti

Haiti Earthquake Response: Mapping and analysis of gaps and duplications in evaluations

Attachments

1 Introduction

1.1 Background

The earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 was by all measurements a 'mega disaster'. Some 223,000 people were killed, 300,000 injured, and more than 2 million forced from their homes. Seventeen percent of Haiti's central government employees were killed when government buildings collapsed. The UN experienced its largest loss of life on a single day ever, when 102 staff members died.

As ever, local people responded immediately to pull their neighbours out of buildings, clear bodies and debris, and start rebuilding their lives. The crisis received extensive international media coverage and drew visits from high-profile politicians and personalities. Thousands of international organizations, including those from the Caribbean and South America as well as Europe and North America, overcame huge logistical challenges to mount a massive humanitarian response. Haitians abroad sent home estimated hundreds of millions in remittances. More than $3 billion in humanitarian assistance has been committed or contributed, at least a third from private donations.

As of January 2011, at least 45 evaluations are known to have been done of various aspects of the international response to the Haiti earthquake. Although over a year has passed, at least 800,000 people still sleep in tents or in the open each night, a cholera epidemic has taken hold, and rising political instability brings additional challenges. The effort to understand what international humanitarian agencies have done well, and what could be done better, will continue until the end of 2011 and beyond.