Haiti still suffers six months on

Rubble from the earthquake still litters the streets Keystone

Six months after Haiti’s earthquake, Swiss and international aid officials say that needs are huge and that reconstruction has to be “realistic and pragmatic”.

Around 1.5 million people are still estimated to be displaced, with rubble still lying everywhere, hurricanes likely and long-term construction delayed.

The effects of the 7.0-magnitude quake that hit the capital Port-au-Prince and large stretches of surrounding countryside on January 12 this year still dominate the landscape.

Aid workers report that the bodies of most of the 230,000 people who perished in the quake may have been cleared, but not the piles of 20 million cubic metres of rubble and collapsed homes.

In 1,200 makeshift camps dotted in and around the city the number of displaced people has nearly doubled to 1.5 million, including half a million children.

“The people have a tent over their heads, but that’s about it,” said Hugo Fasel, director of Caritas Switzerland. “We can only hope they are not blown away by a hurricane.”

Some people still live in the cellars of collapsed houses where there are still dead bodies; but they do not have a choice, said Fasel.

Reconstruction efforts

The United Nations is planning 125,000 transitional homes – wooden and metal structures that comply with anti-quake and hurricane norms – by summer 2011, but only a small number had already been constructed.

Fasel said he had seen no reconstruction efforts during his visit to the devastated island.

“In Switzerland you would see cranes and building site machines everywhere. In Haiti people are trying to rebuild their homes with their bare hands,” he said.

According to a recent United States Senate report, immediate humanitarian relief priorities appear to have been met, but there are “troubling signs” that the recovery and longer-term rebuilding activities are “flagging”.

The report by staff of Senator John Kerry, the Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that little reconstruction progress had been made due to an absence of leadership, disagreements among donors and general disorganisation.

It said construction was being held up by land disputes and customs delays while plans for moving people out of camp settlements remained in “early draft form”.

Haiti leaders criticised

The report also attacked the government of Haitian President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, saying it had “not done an effective job of communicating to Haitians that it is in charge and ready to lead the rebuilding effort”.

Bellerive has replied that officials were working hard behind the scenes to ensure reconstruction does not simply mean the rebuilding of barely liveable slums.

Meanwhile, the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission, set up under the chairmanship of former US president Bill Clinton, only met in May for the first time. That committee will oversee the first instalments of the $9.9 billion (SFr10.5 billion) pledged for international reconstruction – money separate than the total spent on humanitarian aid.

But less than two per cent of it has been delivered. The rest is delayed due to bureaucracy and politics of more than 60 countries and organisations that pledged to help, it has been reported.

“Realistic and pragmatic”

Corinne Momal-Vanian, director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, said that people had to be “realistic and pragmatic” about what could be achieved and when in terms of reconstruction, especially as the emergency effort was continuing.

“We have to remember that it took five years to rebuild some 180,000 homes in Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2005 tsunami, as well as bearing in mind what it was like in Haiti before the earthquake,” she told swissinfo.ch.

Pierre Kremer, head of communication at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who recently visited Haiti, said outstanding needs were still huge.

“We are clearly still in an emergency situation,” he commented.

Kremer admitted that frustration was building among the population: “When you visit the camps people ask when they are getting a house or job – the huge international effort is perceived as long.”

But he defended the “fast and effective” emergency response so far.

“Coordination is never perfect but the shelter cluster has worked well. Reconstruction is a slow process and we need to be patient; we will never be able to rebuild in six months or a year; we think it will take more like seven to ten years.”

Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch and agencies

Haiti

Haiti is two-thirds the size of Switzerland but has an estimated population of ten million compared with Switzerland’s 7.7 million.

Up to three million people are thought to live in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Haiti suffers from high inflation, a lack of investment because of insecurity and limited infrastructure, and a severe trade deficit.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Three-quarters of Haitians survive on $2 a day or less. Almost half the population is illiterate.

Swiss efforts

Switzerland mobilised one of its largest-ever relief and rapid response teams of 70 people for the Haiti mission.

The first phase focused mainly on medical assistance.

The government’s humanitarian aid unit sent three freight aircraft, with more than 170 tons of aid goods being distributed.

More than SFr65.5 million ($61.6 million) was pledged by the Swiss public to Swiss Solidarity, a fundraising charity led by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo.ch’s parent company. So far SFr10 million has been invested in projects in Haiti.

On March 24 the Swiss government announced that it would earmark SFr36 million over 2010-2012 period for reconstruction. This will come on top of SFr12 million Swiss bilateral and multilateral contributions for Haiti to date.

Swiss aid will be used chiefly for reconstruction efforts and the restoration of basic infrastructure. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation plans to continue to provide temporary shelter while working on more permanent housing with other organisations. It has also signed an agreement to rebuild a hospital as well as three schools in 2010.