Immense Need and Immense Challenges in Haiti
By Adam Koons, Director of Relief, International Relief and Development
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- The scene here is remarkably sad. Throughout the city the parks and every open space are filled with makeshift shelters of bits of plastic, cardboard, and tin side-by-side in instant ghettos. The most remarkable example we saw was a long narrow row of hundreds of such “shelters” crammed in the median of a very busy city street, with cars and trucks passing constantly on either side. Sewage fills the streets. These spontaneous slums contain those whose homes have been destroyed along with those who are afraid to re-enter their damaged or possibly damaged homes, and those afraid to sleep indoors as a result of the continuing and sometimes strong aftershocks. In another neighborhood people were just putting their blankets down along one lane of the road, vaguely blocked off from traffic by a few cements blocks.
In spite of the tremendous outpouring of aid from a huge number of governments, organizations, and agencies, the major challenges now include the immense scale of the problem -- so many people need a full range of support from shelter and sanitation to food and water – that will require immense financial and material resources, and the absence of an adequate infrastructure with which to deliver such aid. At the best of times the existing infrastructure was extremely poor, and now it is stretched way beyond its limits. For example the roads are so poor, so narrow, and in such bad repair and the traffic is so congested that it can takes hours to travel a few miles through the city to transport emergency supplies and staff. But many thousands of such trips will be needed. Another significant challenge is the almost overwhelming task of coordination between many hundreds of different aid groups and many thousands of aid workers; trying to prevent duplication and identify and fill needs and gaps effectively.
That said, IRD is not unfamiliar with such situations and our emergency response team is experienced in succeeding to provide substantial assistance and contributing effectively in this kind of context. IRD has particular strengths and skills that many of the other agencies do not have here, for example with respect to our capacity to obtain emergency commodities and our technical engineering skills in water, sanitation, and shelter, and we are currently conducting strategic plans to best apply these capacities.
The recovery process will be a long-term challenge of many years. It must include rebuilding the infrastructure to better standards, to mitigate future disasters. It will also require that we work not only to restore devastated human needs like health care and employment to their pre-disaster state of total insufficiency, but rather that we take this tragic opportunity to focus the attention and resources needed to rebuild the systems to adequate levels. Of course, IRD will be here for the long term to fully participate in and contribute to this process.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- The scene here is remarkably sad. Throughout the city the parks and every open space are filled with makeshift shelters of bits of plastic, cardboard, and tin side-by-side in instant ghettos. The most remarkable example we saw was a long narrow row of hundreds of such “shelters” crammed in the median of a very busy city street, with cars and trucks passing constantly on either side. Sewage fills the streets. These spontaneous slums contain those whose homes have been destroyed along with those who are afraid to re-enter their damaged or possibly damaged homes, and those afraid to sleep indoors as a result of the continuing and sometimes strong aftershocks. In another neighborhood people were just putting their blankets down along one lane of the road, vaguely blocked off from traffic by a few cements blocks.
In spite of the tremendous outpouring of aid from a huge number of governments, organizations, and agencies, the major challenges now include the immense scale of the problem -- so many people need a full range of support from shelter and sanitation to food and water – that will require immense financial and material resources, and the absence of an adequate infrastructure with which to deliver such aid. At the best of times the existing infrastructure was extremely poor, and now it is stretched way beyond its limits. For example the roads are so poor, so narrow, and in such bad repair and the traffic is so congested that it can takes hours to travel a few miles through the city to transport emergency supplies and staff. But many thousands of such trips will be needed. Another significant challenge is the almost overwhelming task of coordination between many hundreds of different aid groups and many thousands of aid workers; trying to prevent duplication and identify and fill needs and gaps effectively.
That said, IRD is not unfamiliar with such situations and our emergency response team is experienced in succeeding to provide substantial assistance and contributing effectively in this kind of context. IRD has particular strengths and skills that many of the other agencies do not have here, for example with respect to our capacity to obtain emergency commodities and our technical engineering skills in water, sanitation, and shelter, and we are currently conducting strategic plans to best apply these capacities.
The recovery process will be a long-term challenge of many years. It must include rebuilding the infrastructure to better standards, to mitigate future disasters. It will also require that we work not only to restore devastated human needs like health care and employment to their pre-disaster state of total insufficiency, but rather that we take this tragic opportunity to focus the attention and resources needed to rebuild the systems to adequate levels. Of course, IRD will be here for the long term to fully participate in and contribute to this process.
Labels: disaster, earthquake, Haiti, relief
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