29 July 2010
Housing Is Top Priority for Haiti
Washington — In 35 seconds on January 12, much of Haiti’s center of government, commerce and culture was destroyed or paralyzed by a magnitude 7 earthquake and its aftermath.
What followed was a massive international emergency relief effort. Now, with recovery under way, comes the beginning of reconstruction that is expected to take many years to complete, says Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Within 24 hours of the earthquake, the United States and the international community launched a massive relief effort to save lives and sustain the people of Haiti until conditions could be stabilized, Shah said at a July 29 congressional hearing. USAID has primary responsibility for U.S. recovery and reconstruction efforts in the Caribbean nation.
“One of our main priorities is housing for Haitians who remain displaced,” Shah said in prepared testimony. The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere is evaluating the U.S. disaster response and whether efforts are moving quickly enough for the hemisphere’s poorest nation. It has been more than six months since the devastating earthquake struck the Port-au-Prince area, displacing more than 2 million Haitians and killing approximately 230,000.
Shah said Haitian President René Préval has made it the highest priority to move displaced Haitians living in relief camps into more permanent shelters where they can live for three to five years before moving into long-term, sustainable housing.
“Rebuilding efforts must be led by Haitians, build Haitian capacity, and stimulate Haiti’s economy if they are to be sustainable,” Shah said in prepared remarks.
“For this reason, we are identifying and helping to train Haitian masons and Haitian construction workers in improved techniques, including the use of rebar [reinforced steel bars] and better cement mixing, so that structures are better able to withstand future shocks,” Shah added. And electricians and other construction workers are working in reconstruction efforts already begun, he said.
Of the more than 2 million people displaced by the earthquake and its aftershocks, approximately 1.5 million still remain in relief camps. By early July, about 5,000 transitional shelters had been built, Subcommittee Chairman Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, said in opening remarks. The international community has pledged to build 125,000 transitional shelters for about 600,000 people by July 2011, Engel said, which leaves about a million people without more permanent housing.
Shah said that as of July 14, U.S. and Haitian engineers had assessed more than 180,000 structures in the devastated areas and had found that 47 percent were habitable and another 27 percent required only modest repairs to make them structurally sound.
“USAID is working with the government of Haiti and partners to develop assistance packages that will help people return to safe homes and provide materials or financing to repair others,” Shah testified. Efforts began months ago to prepare Haitians and the devastated areas for the coming hurricane season, “particularly those displaced and living in temporary settlements,” Shah added.
Engineering projects were begun to lessen the impact of the rainy and hurricane seasons, especially on those displaced.
EARLY SUCCESS
Shah said that while long-term efforts are being launched, there have been some early successes, beginning with Haiti’s medical capacity, which is greater now than before the earthquake.
“USAID and our partners have helped the government of Haiti to vaccinate 1 million people against highly communicable diseases, and a second round of vaccinations is currently under way,” Shah said. “No significant, widespread outbreak of infectious disease has occurred, despite the severity of the earthquake, the displacement of people and the initial disruptions within Haiti’s health system.”
USAID has supported the construction of a piped-water network in Port-au-Prince that can provide approximately 50 percent more water today than before the earthquake, he said.
Finally, USAID, working with partners, has coordinated and funded the removal of debris and sludge from critical canals to enable better water flow and prevent flooding in the city. Some of those canals had not been cleared in 15 years, he added.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
