Post-Earthquake Assistance In Haiti Shifts To Reconstruction
Post-Earthquake Assistance In Haiti Shifts To Reconstruction – UN
New York, Jan 6 2012 4:10PM
The allocation of resources for Haiti’s recovery from the devastating earthquake two years ago has shifted to reconstruction, infrastructure restoration, debris removal, job creation and capacity building, senior United Nations officials said today, noting, however, that considerable humanitarian needs remain.
“We… had a year of transition from the
humanitarian phase to the recovery and reconstruction
phases,” Rebeca Grynspan, the Associate Administrator of
the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told reporters in a
teleconference organized by UN Foundation to give an update
on the situation in Haiti since the 12 January 2010
earthquake.
“It has been a major challenge since
that we know that Haiti still needs a combination of
humanitarian support… but slowly the emphasis and
allocation of resources is shifting towards recovery and
reconstruction,” she said.
On job creation, Ms.
Grynspan said UNDP had helped create 300,000 temporary jobs
since the quake, organizing people to carry out activities
such as debris removal, garbage collection and enhancing
disaster risk reduction. Forty per cent of the temporary
jobs have gone to women.
“This has given 60,000
families possibilities to rebuild their livelihoods, have
access to specialized training and cash,” she said.
“This is the largest job creation programme we have in the
world… 90 per cent of the labour force employed in the
execution of UNDP projects is Haitian.”
Efforts are
now shifting towards the creation of more sustainable jobs,
moving from cash-for-work schemes to cash for production
employment, according to Ms. Grynspan.
“We are
supporting more and more small businesses, community-based
organizations, self-employment and much more training for
the labour force for them to be able to have access to the
job market,” she added.
“Let us remember that one
of the major challenges we face in Haiti is the long-term
high rate of unemployment that has been a deeper
long-standing crisis.” An estimated 60 per cent of
Haiti’s labour force is unemployed, she said.
Ms.
Grynspan pointed out that 50 per cent of the debris from the
earthquake has been removed, and that efforts included the
demolition of damaged buildings that cannot be repaired.
“We are talking about five million cubic metres of
debris,” she said, explaining that that was the equivalent
of five football stadiums full of debris.
On disaster
risk reduction, she said UNDP has supported the construction
of 2,000 metres of river bank protection structures and
helped 10 municipalities in the north, south and south-east
of country guard against floods and river overflows during
hurricanes and torrential rainfall. Some 400 hectares of
land have been reforested in an effort to make the country
more resilient to natural disasters.
The UN fund has
also supported training programmes for 2,700 people in the
country’s civil service and placed national and
international experts at the disposal of Haitian Government
departments to assist in recovery and capacity
building.
“The local Haitian community has played a
crucial role in the reconstruction effort and UNDP continues
to push for a very participatory approach in its planning to
allow Haitians to take control of their country and choose
their own future,” said Ms. Grynspan.
On the cholera
epidemic outbreak that hit Haiti 10 months after the
earthquake, Jon Andrus, the Deputy Director of the UN World
Health Organization’s (WHO) regional arm, the Pan-American
Health Organization (PAHO), said the outbreak can only be
eliminated through capacity building in health and water and
sanitation infrastructure.
He pointed out that the
cholera outbreak turned out to be one of the largest
epidemics of the disease in modern history to affect a
single country.
As of mid-December last year, Haiti
had reported more than 520,000 cases and nearly 7,000
deaths. Neighbouring Dominican Republic reported more than
21,000 cases and 363 deaths over the same period, according
to Dr. Andrus.
“Over the past year the response from
the international community has been substantial with the
implementation and promotion of a variety of prevention and
control strategies,” he said. “However, despite these
intensified efforts, we continue to encounter approximately
200 new cholera cases [of cholera] per day in Haiti and this
number will certainly go up during the upcoming rainy
season.
“Cholera elimination will require renewed
efforts to ensure that safe water and sanitation are
provided to every resident. Such efforts will require major
investment in capacity development and infrastructure for
decades. We as partners have failed to ensure safe water and
sanitation is provided to every citizen of Haiti. Now we
have this opportunity to reverse that failure,” said Dr.
Andrus.
ends