Rebuilding Haiti: Post-Earthquake Recovery Essay

Introduction

“On Jan. 12th a powerful 7.0 quake hit the impoverished nation of Haiti. This was followed more than 30+ strong aftershocks” (architecture for humanity 1) – stated the website architectureforhumanity.org about the earthquake in Haiti. The capital of Haiti, “Port – au – Prince and other towns of Haiti like Léogâne, Jacmel and Petit-Goâve” (Zimmerman 221) became the victims of a powerful earthquake on 12 January 2010 measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale.

There were 52 aftershock incidents till January 24^th. There were massive losses that kept on a mounting day by day as new news of losses unfolded. About 3 million people were affected and 8 Billion USD was the estimated loss caused due to the earthquake.

No doubt the tremors have taken a massive toll on the lives and resources of Haiti, but it was not only the tremors that caused the damage to such a massive extent. The other reasons which increased the loss were the extremely dense population of the towns, building standards not complying with earthquake and other disaster norms, considerably bad state of the environment, use of lands without any proper organization, and the division of economic activities without any proper balance. 65 percent of Haiti’s economic activities and 85 percent of tax revenue is accounted on the capital city.

Haiti needed to be rebuilt, that too, in such a way that in the future no other disaster could impart such a huge loss on the country in any way. Therefore the job was rebuilding was not only the task of putting the country back on the foot but correcting the flaws which allowed the tremors to cause such devastation.

The plan for the reconstruction of Haiti has been prepared. It deals with all the tasks to be performed to bring back the prior quake condition. However, the estimation of the costs required for that it aims at correcting all the errors in construction so that standards are maintained while rebuilding Haiti. All the affected areas are taken with the same importance so that nobody lags behind the other while standing up again.

This kind of rebuilding has called for a plan which is a plan for the society where people of every sector have a part to play rather than an exclusively governmental plan. The Action Plan for National Recovery and Development will restore the economic, social, and governmental activities. It is planned in two phases: the first phase of immediate damage repairing which lasts for 18 months and the second phase comprising of a cycle of three programs to reduce poverty and ensure National growth which lasts for 10 years.

Effects of Earthquake

Such a powerful earthquake was sure to make an overwhelming impact on the human life of Haiti. The number of directly affected people was 1.5 million. 300, 000 people lost their lives and 300, 000 were injured as well. 600,000 people had to leave the affected to look for shelter elsewhere in the country. Temporary shelters have been made in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince which provides shelter to about 1.3 million people. There is a scarcity of food and basic services. The earthquake had devastated not only the lives and structures but had a grave impact on the capacities of private sectors, public sectors, international technical and financial partners, and many of the NGOs.

Needless to say, the quake had made tremendous destruction of the infrastructures. Numerous houses were affected. 105,000 houses were destructed and 208,000 were damaged to various extents. 1300 educational institutions were destroyed, 50 hospitals and health centers were either destroyed or have been rendered unusable by the quake tremors. Government buildings like the Parliament, the Law Courts, the Presidential Palace, public and ministerial administration buildings collapsed.

The main port of Haiti became functionless because of the devastations and could not be used for several weeks. It still does not operate at full capacity. Haiti has only one International Airport located at Port – au – Prince which was extensively damaged due to the quake as its control tower became the victim of the tremors. That had impaired the flow of the necessary air supplies. The vital ways of communications and services like the telecommunication system, radio, and internet were disrupted due to the tremor. Not only were those, but the international aid offices were also the victims of the quake.

The environment was already endangered by the balance of less use of land and environmental resources in Haiti. The quake pushed it more towards the brim by forcing people to put pressure on the resources left available.

The financial loss was estimated at 8 billion USD and that is over an overwhelming 120 percent of the country’s GDP in the year 2009. 70 percent of the loss that is 5.5 billion USD was lost by the private sector and 30 percent that is 2.4 billion by the public sector. Of these, the loss due to the destruction of the physical structures like houses, schools, offices, hospitals, and other buildings, port airports, and roads accounted for 4.3 billion USD. 3.6 billion USD was the loss due to the disruption of the economic flow like hampered productions and increased costs, reduced turnovers, jobs, and wage losses. Losses incurred due to the destruction of various ranges of houses and household goods account for 2.4 billion USD as naturally, housing was the most badly affected area by the quake.

“Even as outsiders feel sympathy for Haiti’s suffering, they tend to look upon it as a country beyond saving” (New York Times 1)

Those were the figures of damage. Now it is the turn to rebuild and the prior estimation of the cost for that. The estimates were worked upon by eight theme groups and along with the total allotment the priority of funds for the different sectors have been determined. The estimated cost for the reconstruction of Haiti is 11.5 billion USD. According to priority, the allotment has been made to different sectors; social reconstruction gets 50 percent of the estimate, infrastructure including housing gets 17 percent and the 15 percent is allotted to the environment and disaster risk reduction sector.

Reconstruction

The task of reconstruction of Haiti would be a collective effort by various sectors. The Haitian Head of State described the situation as an opportunity to make Haiti an emerging country by the year 2030. “Major international donors and the Haitian government itself have said that the rebuilding presented an opportunity to try to break the traditional cycle” (New York Times1). Based upon the various proposals the government has chalked out a plan for reconstruction which will be mainly focus on four sectors:

• Territorial rebuilding
• Economic rebuilding
• Social rebuilding
• Institutional rebuilding

The Action Plan for the reconstruction of Haiti has been formulated in a three-phase manner having provisions for both the emergency and long-term reconstructions. The three phases are:

• The Emergency phase – the measures to be taken to heal the immediate effects of the quake which includes providing homes to the homeless, starting the educational progress again, and providing jobs to people without jobs.
• The Implementation phase – the success of the above programs depends on the implementation of the projects over 18 months. For that investments on a basis will be of utmost importance in both the social and economic sectors.
• The long-term reconstruction – ten years would be necessary to bring back Haiti to the right track of development and then it will be another ten years which will see Haiti’s now get up as an emerging country.

Territorial and Infrastructure Reconstruction

Reconstruction of Devastated Zones

The three major affected zones were the metropolitan areas of “Port-au-Prince, the Léogâne-Petit Goâve axis, and the

Sud-Est department, including Jacmel” (Zimmerman 114). The territorial and infrastructural reconstruction included the following tasks

• Cleaning of the huge debris of the earthquake
• Declaration of lands for public use and compensation of the homeowners
• Use of land for proper urban planning to reduce the impact of such disasters
• Resuming basic necessity infrastructural work like drainage systems, electricity restoration, drinking water supply, and restoration of sanitation
• Building up structures with proper earthquake and other disaster resistant standards

The total expense for this is estimated to be $780 million which includes $150 Million in budgetary support.

National Transport Network

The transport network can be restored once the National highways are restored after the huge devastation. That is necessary to bring all the affected areas together and connect with the rest of the nation as well as establish trade with the Dominican Republic.

After the National highways, the secondary roads are to be reconstructed so that the Nation becomes accessible to tourists and traveling for health and educational purposes become easier. 600 Km of roadways would be constructed and those have to be maintained with recurrent costs.

The total estimated cost of the work to rebuild the roadways is $180 million including the budgetary support of $50 million.

The ports and airports were badly impacted by the quake. So the reopening of the ports and airports in an enhanced way is necessary to restore the transport system. The sequence of import and export will be started after the reconstructions of these two important gateways accomplishes. The estimated budget for this is $114 million.

Disaster Management

Disaster management program will deal with the revitalization of the environment and the Ecosystem as an effort to minimize the risks of natural calamities like earthquakes and floods and thus reduce the loss of lives and money caused by the calamities. Disaster management mainly stresses the reinforcements of the infrastructure and the system. The budget has been estimated as $130 million including the budgetary support of $75 million.

National Planning and local development

The planning of local developmental processes involves rational use of land and territory for the implementation of developmental schemes. As this requires political involvement along with the technical procedures the planning of this program needs to consider the regional level for success. The total estimated budget for this purpose is $50 million.

Watershed Management

The river basins are potential areas that might make the people of Haiti vulnerable to floods. So management of river basins is necessary. Corrective measures are to be taken as an effort to reduce the harmful practices causing damage to basins and the infrastructure is to be strengthened. The river basin management also impacts the economy by influencing agriculture and job creation.

Social Reconstruction

• Re-Housing the Population – numerous people lost their houses in the quake. 1.2 million people are sheltered in the 460 temporary camps after the quake. It is a primary aim therefore to re–house those people by providing them with temporary and permanent housing before the rainy season. “Haiti’s government and other parties involved in the aid effort are debating how to provide shelter for earthquake survivors before the rainy season starts” (Global Health 1). The damaged houses are to be repaired so that they can be used again. The total fund allotted for this purpose is $295 million.
• Social protection – to provide a better living condition the Haitian people should be provided access to better quality essential and basic services. Assurance of jobs, food security, health, and educational services should be available to everybody. Security of women suffering major losses, children devoid of family and education, and people incurring disability are the first and foremost priority. The budget allotted for this purpose is $70 million.
• Rebuilding the Educational System – Erecting shelters for the destroyed school buildings and bringing back the educational machinery to the school including the teachers, students and administrators are extremely necessary. Providing psychological support and training whenever necessary should be provided, higher education should be assured and aids for education have to be provided. The entire program will require $470 million including budgetary support of $150 million.
• Healthcare, Food Security, Water, and sanitation – the health of women, children, and patients of surgery are to be given priority so that malnutrition is eliminated. Supply of food has to be assured to everybody to combat the scarcity of food in the affected areas. Along with food drinking water and sanitation system has to be strengthened. The allotments of funds are $390 million, $140 million, and $160 million respectively.

Management of Reconstruction

• The Haiti Interim Commission of Reconstruction (HICR) – The HICR, co-chaired by the Prime Minister and an eminent foreign figure has set its mission as coordinating the implementation of the plan of deployment of the resources so the entire process of utilization of the international support is transparent.
• Fund for Haiti’s Reconstruction – the funds needed for the projects taken in hand in Haiti would be harmonized with the available fund by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). This is to ensure proper utilization of external aid.

Works Cited

Architectureforhumanity. Disaster In Haiti. architectureforhumanity. 2010. Web.

Global health. “Daily Report- Haiti”. Global health. 2010. Web.

New York Times (a). “Haiti”. New York Times. 2010. Web.

New York Times (b). “Planning In Haiti”. New York Times. 2010. Web.

Zimmerman, David. Tourism in Pacific. Auckland: IPCL Press, 2010.