Haiti: A humanitarian crisis in need of a development solution

Haiti: Tropical Storm Sandy displaces 35,000 people, while over 31,000 earthquake IDPs are hit again

Since October, more than 21,000 people were evacuated due to floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Sandy. At least 32,000 people were newly displaced, as their homes were damaged and destroyed.

Many are facing the compounding effects of repeated disasters in the region. 31,790 IDPs in 119 camps are again in need of urgent assistance, since being displaced earlier this year by an earthquake. Two-thirds of these camps were affected only three months ago by Hurricane Isaac, and there are real concerns for the 92,000 families (360,000 people) who have been living in IDP camps since the earthquake in 2010.

While the Government of declared a state of emergency in October, the President of the World Bank announced last week during a visit to Haiti that US$60 million of post-earthquake funding would be redirected to support one-year housing rental subsidies for 60,000 families in IDP camps. 

The mayor of Port-au-Prince echoed the urgent need for housing away from the high-risk environment of the camps, particularly for older people, women, and children. The funding will help to relocate the majority of camp residents who rented accommodation or were squatters before the earthquake, and who risk forcible eviction by landowners.

As humanitarian organisations prepared to appeal for an additional US $40 million for emergency response to Sandy, the Government’s Department of Civil Protection reported last week over 3,000 more displaced by heavy rains and flash floods.

Internal displacement has been a frequent and significant part of Haiti’s history since its foundation in 1804. The current mix of inter-related causes includes frequent natural hazard-induced disasters, human rights violations, and large-scale development projects. These are dominated by the impacts of the major earthquake disaster of 12 January 2010, which displaced up to 2.3 million people, mostly from or within the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. Over the last three years, more than 61,000 of these internally displaced people (IDPs) have been displaced again as a result of forced evictions and other threats. As of December 2012, 357,000 IDPs remain in camps or camp-like situations (also referred to as “camps”), while a lack of information makes the number of IDPs living outside these situations difficult to assess. This includes IDPs staying with host families, those who previously lived in the camps and those whose situation continues to put them at high risk of further displacement.

During 2012, storm and flood disasters including Tropical Storm Sandy at the end of October have caused the new or repeated internal displacement of at least 58,000 people. Recurrent displacement has cumulative impacts on the vulnerability of people unable to fully recover between shocks felt not only by IDPs, but also by families or communities that host them. Storms and floods, further added to by drought, has left around 20 per cent of Haiti's population or 2.1 million people suffering severe food insecurity - another likely driver of displacement ( Haiti Humanitarian Action Plan 2013, 18 December 2012). (...)

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