UN: Six months on, 1.5 million Haitians still in camps (Roundup)

Jul 12, 2010, 18:28 GMT

Geneva/New York - Teeming tented communities will remain a reality in Haiti's present and future, the United Nations said Monday, as it assessed lessons learned six months after the earthquake that shattered the poorest country in the Caribbean.

'There will be tented camps for months to come, maybe years to come,' said Nigel Fisher, UN humanitarian coordinator for Haiti. 'This is the biggest natural disaster the world has seen in recent memory' in a country with a weak economy.

At least 1.5 million Haitians are still living in temporary camps, the UN said. Work was now in the second phase of replacing tents worn out over the months and providing additional resources for the rains.

A 7-magnitude earthquake ripped through Haiti at 4:53 pm on January 12. Over the 12 days that followed, the country was rocked by at least 52 powerful aftershocks.

The exact number of deaths may never be known, but the Haitian government estimates that 222,750 people - or 2 per cent of the population - were killed and at least 300,572 injured.

The total damage and loss caused is estimated at 7.8 billion dollars, or slightly more than Haiti's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009.

The global response was swift, with thousands of humanitarian aid workers rushing into the country where the infrastructure had collapsed. The response was not only complex, but often incoherent and uncoordinated.

The UN acknowledged as much in a report released Monday, examining how UN agencies reacted to the disaster, as well as the role of the Haitian government and population and foreign militaries.

'The influx of thousands of humanitarian actors, many of whom, while well-meaning, were not necessarily professional and well- informed in their approach, posed a challenge to the coordination dynamics of the response,' the report said.

The aid agencies again came in for criticism as foreign militaries were compelled to step in to lead humanitarian tasks as there was a lack of 'sufficient strategic vision,' the report said.

Despite the challenges, Fisher said there was no major epidemic - of cholera or measles - in the overcrowded camps. 'Over 11,000 latrines were built in the camps - the population didn't have these services before the earthquake.'

He also praised the 'relative calm' in the camps, largely due to the local camp committees, Haitian police and UN. 'Things could have been much worse. Haiti has a reputation for violence. I don't think you've seen it here. I want to emphasize that.'

Former US president Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy to Haiti, was in Port-au-Prince Monday and would attend a commemoration ceremony at the collapsed National Palace with Haitian President Rene Preval.

The initial response of the UN aid agencies was to rush basic humanitarian help to the 3.5 million people affected by the quake, though now they were moving towards more long-term development programmes.

'This is the time now, when we will be able to build a better Haiti for all the people there,' World Food Programme spokeswoman Emilia Casella told reporters in Geneva.

'We still have long way to go,' Fisher acknowledged. 'By August 2011, we will have 120,000 temporary shelters. Compared with Aceh (Indonesia 2004 tsunami) after 6 months, we're ahead of what we achieved there in terms of transitional shelters.'

He said the main things Haitians asked for were jobs and schools, and that 'these are the two pillars around which we will build camps and relocate the population.'

Among the key lessons outlined in the report was the need for better understanding between humanitarian workers, military, private sector and the government in the affected country, the UN said.

A critical lesson was for aid workers to adapt better to a disaster in an urban context and to identify 'expertise, tools, knowledge, and partnerships to be able to operate effectively in such environments.' The scale of the earthquake was amplified because it occurred in a large urban area with poorly constructed buildings.

It was important to understand the vulnerability of the disaster- affected population by better communications with them. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, homeless Haitians complained that no one was asking them what they needed and what part they wanted to play in their country's recovery and future.

Even before the earthquake, Haiti suffered from deep poverty - 55 per cent of Haitians lived on less than 1.25 dollars per day, crime and a severe lack of development. The UN ranked it the lowest country in the Americas on its Human Development Index, with over half the population lacking access to clean water, coupled with high unemployment and low wages.