Haiti: turning disaster into strength

The earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 cost the lives of several hundred thousand people and destroyed large sections of its key infrastructure. Already one of the poorest countries in the world (it is ranked 145th out of 169 countries on the human development index), many areas of Haiti are still dependent on humanitarian aid and over 500,000 people are waiting to be rehoused.

During the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and the first year of our operations, the challenge for our organisation, as for all humanitarian organisations, was to deploy sufficient resources quickly enough to meet the acute needs of the population.

Our organisation rose a new challenge in 2011 - that of ensuring the resources deployed in Haiti remain in the country after humanitarian operators leave, and that the people of Haiti are better protected in the future against natural and sanitary disasters and better able to case-manage the most vulnerable individuals, including people with disabilities, both on a day-to-day basis and during emergencies.

The organisation aims to achieve two main goals in 2012: the successful completion of our emergency operations, probably including the construction of some 500 new transitional shelters for the most vulnerable individuals yet to be provided with accommodation, and capacity-building for the people of Haiti to case-manage and include people with disabilities and set up structures to reduce the human impact of future natural disasters.

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