02 February 2010

Haitian Relief Shifting to Longer-Term Sustainability Projects

 

A U.S. Army soldier helps a Haitian woman tie a sack of rice. U.S. officials say aid distribution has mostly been orderly.

A U.S. Army soldier helps a Haitian woman tie a sack of rice. U.S. officials say aid distribution has mostly been orderly.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — Nearly three weeks after the January 12 earthquake hit Haiti, U.S. officials say the relief effort is shifting from search and rescue toward sustainability and economic recovery, ahead of an international donors conference that is expected to be held in March at the United Nations.

The distribution of food, water, shelter and medical assistance to the Haitian people is continuing at an ever-increasing rate. Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said that as aid delivery and coordination between the Haitian government and the international community becomes more efficient and reaches more people, “we’re ramping up the relief effort” with more attention to the country’s long-term recovery.

“We’re trying, in a very focused way, to do things that are sustainable, that are appropriate and that can contribute to a strong Haitian recovery,” Shah told reporters at the State Department February 2.

In partnership with the U.N. Development Programme, the Haitian government has been directing a jobs program that employs 5,600 people per day, mostly clearing rubble. Shah said their work is instrumental in creating more space for meeting needs such as temporary housing. The program is expected to expand beyond the capital, Port-au-Prince, to provide more sources of income and to play a role in eventually transitioning the country back to a private-sector economy.

In the jobs program, “local mayors and local political leaders identify priorities in their areas,” Shah said. “On a day-to-day basis they go out and hire people, pay a minimum wage and provide that employment opportunity, and also get important public works done,” he said.

Shah said the number employed has rapidly doubled from 2,800 to 5,600. “We anticipate it will grow significantly through February,” he said. “Our goal is more every day.”

The USAID administrator said the United States has now provided more than 800,000 Haitians with food and two-week ration packages, with the rate tripling from 45,000 served per day during the beginning of the effort to the current level of more than 120,000 per day. More than 250,000 have also been served outside of Port-au-Prince, and the international community has lowered its projected target of people needing long-term food assistance from 4 million to 2 million.

Food distribution has been “remarkably effective and … orderly,” he said, despite some isolated incidents. “I think it’s just a point to note about the Haitian population, and their commitment and resolve and resilience.”

“It is the resilience of the Haitian people that is the primary vehicle through which most relief is provided,” Shah said.

He reported that there have not been any shortages of water reported, describing the increasing daily delivery, which currently stands at 2 million liters to nearly 160 sites, as “a success story.”

The donor community has anticipated that between 240,000 and 300,000 households need temporary shelters to protect them from the elements. Shah said the international community so far has provided 70,000 of those households with plastic sheeting, shelter kits or training on how to build shelters, and has enough materials on hand to serve up to 260,000 households.

U.S. medical professionals have now seen an estimated 25,000 patients, but Shah said sanitation remains a challenge. Haitian and international officials have cooperated to establish a 51-site disease-surveillance system, and will soon begin targeted vaccination campaigns. Chlorine tablets are being handed out at water distribution sites.

ADDITIONAL U.S. ASSETS EN ROUTE

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced February 1 that the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was leaving the Haitian coast after providing nearly three weeks of support for humanitarian operations. The Vinson, which was conducting routine training off the U.S. east coast when the earthquake struck, was immediately dispatched to Haiti. The 19 helicopters on board provided some of the first means of airlifting supplies and injured people after the Vinson arrived January 15.

According to SOUTHCOM, the ship and its air wing distributed more than 1.1 million pounds of emergency aid and evacuated 435 patients. The 19 helicopters clocked in more than 1,000 hours of flying time.

Ten of the Vinson’s helicopter fleet will remain on the scene for ongoing international relief efforts. The SOUTHCOM commander, U.S. Air Force General Douglas Fraser, said they are staying to ensure “the continued flow of relief supplies where needed with no impact on aid distribution.”

Fraser said that although there is more work to be done in Haiti, “the delivery of medical support and relief supplies is now much better organized, achieving a far greater capacity and reaching an increasing number of Haitian people than it was just a few days ago.”

There are 40 additional U.S. military helicopters providing logistics support to the relief effort. SOUTHCOM says that as of February 2, 19 U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Military Sealift Command ships are deployed off the Haitian coast, with seven more U.S. military and civilian ships en route.