News

Haiti - One month later

The ACT Alliance camp run by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe provides shelter for 10.000 people, who also recieve food, water and medical treatment. Photo: Nils Carstensen.

According to UN OCHA, the current estimated number of deaths is 212,000 people and injured is more than 300,000 people. More than 1.2 million people are living in spontaneous settlements and 467,701 have left Port-au-Prince, mostly to the Artibonite and Centre departments.

ACT response

Since the earthquake hit parts of Haiti January 12, DanChurchAid and our partners in ACT Alliance have assisted more than 150,000 people. The majority of people are assisted with ongoing support such as water, sanitation, shelter or regular food supplies/meals. Others have received relief items such as cash, family kits or hygiene sets. Others have benefitted from medical assistance and supplies to health clinics.

The ACT Alliance, working with numerous local organisations, is assisting some of the most vulnerable among the victims of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince (including Bel Air and Cite Soleil), Gressier and in Jacmel and Bainet in the south.

Need for shelter

Despite weeks of efforts by local and international humanitarian actors, the needs in the earthquake affected parts of Haiti continue to be enormous. Conditions for most of the estimated 1.2 million people living in improvised camps and shelters remain unbearably crammed and poor. UN OCHA has identified large gaps in provision of shelter and sanitation. Only 280,000 people have received some shelter material. That’s less than 25% of the target. Only 120,000 have received transitory shelter, much less than the 620,000 people who need it. Equally, only 3,000 latrines have been provided to people in temporary settlements, a far cry from the 18,000 toilets needed. Often 200 people have to share one toilet.

Very little is known about the conditions of the large group of people who have fled to the rural areas - only a general sense that food prices are increasing dramatically and that the hosting communities have great difficulties assisting the newcomers out of their own meagre resources. To make matters worse, nobody knows how long they have to live like this as rehabilitation of their homes and neighbourhoods appear to be a very long way off.

Within the next month, ACT members will continue to increase the number of people benefitting from their activities with a continued focus on shelter, water, sanitation, psycho-social activities as well as food and non-food distributions.

By Nils Carstensen, DanChurchAid, Haiti