This is a Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and is co-funded by OISE/Americas Program.This project looks at the provision of temporary housing to displaced victims of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake. Temporary housing is the phase during which victims move from short-term or improvised sheltering arrangements to more home-like living arrangements, so they can begin restoring household, employment, schooling, and other routines. With extensive damage to the capital and other population centers, providing temporary housing for homeless earthquake victims is a major priority for disaster recovery.
This study involves multiple trips to Haiti to track the progress of temporary housing activities, with an emphasis on decision making and planning by international agencies, the Haitian government, and non-governmental organizations. These decisions are important because the projects that are undertaken will critically affect the ability of individuals, households, neighborhoods, and communities to recover. Mistakes are often made in attempts to provide housing for disaster victims, which complicates the recovery process and negatively affects recovery outcomes. The sheer severity and scope of the Haiti earthquake make both planning and carrying out temporary housing projects extremely challenging. New housing arrangements also must ensure victims? safety in light of the potential for aftershocks, hurricanes, flooding, and other hazards. There is a need for both urgent decision making and strategies that facilitate, rather than interfere with, the recovery process. This project seeks to determine how aid providers try to balance these two potentially conflicting demands. Data for the study are obtained through direct observation of meetings at which decisions are made, interviews with decision makers and providers of housing, and documents related to housing and household recovery.
Despite its importance, relatively little attention has been paid to the temporary housing phase of disaster recovery. Studying temporary housing strategies, implementation processes, and outcomes in Haiti has the potential for improving disaster assistance and humanitarian aid programs. It is important to analyze both decisions and their outcomes, particularly after catastrophic disasters and in situations in which multiple severe hazards must be taken into account during the disaster recovery process. Lessons learned can help guide aid efforts worldwide and will also contribute to current U.S. efforts to plan for recovery after catastrophic disasters.
The Haiti earthquake of January 12, 2010 was one of the largest catastrophes of modern times. Although the death toll in the earthquake is disputed, it is possible that 300,000 people lost their lives--the largest loss of life in any disaster to occur in the Western Hemisphere--and an estimated 300,000 were injured. The earthquake left an estimated 1.3 million Haitians homeless out of the nation's total population of about 9 million. The effects of the earthquake were made worse by the fact that Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. This study focused on early decision making regarding the provision of temporary housing after the 2010 Haiti earthquake and on early efforts to provide temporary housing. The study was based on intensive field work in Haiti over a 5-month period and on approximately 60 in-depth interviews with representatives of organizations from both within and outside Haiti that were active in efforts to provide temporary housing, government officials, and international relief agencies. Field workers attended planning and coordination meetings involving key temporary housing providers, collected extensive documentary materials, and visited shelter encampments, primarily in and around the hard-hit city of Jacmel. Challenges and problems in the provision of temporary housing were identified in three major areas: (1) assessment, including evaluation of damaged properties, decisions about the types of housing to provide, and criteria for selecting which victims were entitled to housing assistance; (2) logistics, including decisions regarding demolition, removal of rubble, and locating, accessing, and transporting materials and supplies, as well as issues related to land tenure and acquiring land on which to locate temporary housing; and (3) governance and coordination, including local, regional, and national political conflicts; coordination among the wide variety of agencies that were attempting to provide temporary housing; coordination between housing-related organizations and other agencies that were providing for other needs, such as water, sanitation, and health services; and problems related to the manner in which relief personnel were rotated into and out of disaster zones. Challenges related to the provision of temporary housing were intensified because of Haiti's status as a very weak state even prior to the earthquake, by loss of key personnel in the earthquake, and by extensive damage to government institutions and the nation's infrastructure. The Haiti experience demonstrates the major problems societies face in recovering from catastrophic disasters. It also shows how disasters interact with pre-existing vulnerabilities in the societies in which they occur, such as deficiencies in governance, corruption, poverty, unemployment, and public health problems. With respect to intellectual merit, this study contributes to social science knowledge on disaster recovery, particularly recovery following catastrophic disasters in less developed nations. The study makes connections between the manner in which recovery activities are managed, national governance capacities, and the organization of international disaster relief. Broader impacts of the study include the potential for improving international relief practices and avoiding problems that typically accompany efforts to provide temporary housing after disasters. Observations by key study personnel have been included in print and electronic media reports, television programs, and web postings.
