Memoire Online - Comprehensive disaster risk management framework; the case of Haiti

Qualification as Trainer of experts (TOT) in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Logistics

Bachelor Degree in Geography with a specialisation on Environmental studies with optional studies on Poverty

I-Background Information;

Haiti, in the West Indies, occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. About the size of Maryland, Haiti is two-thirds mountainous, with the rest of the country marked by great valleys, extensive plateaus, and small plains.

The Population is (2009 est.): 9,035,536 (growth rate: 1.8%); birth rate: 29.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 59.7/1000; life expectancy: 60.7; density per sq km: 323. Per capita GNP (FY 2002): $425. Haiti now ranks 150th of 175 countries in the UN's Human Development Index

Capital and largest city (2003 est.) Port-au-Prince, 1,764,000 (metro. area), 1, 119,000 (city proper)

Terrain: mostly rough and mountainous Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m ,highest point: Chaine de la Selle 2,680 m

Land use:
arable land: 20%, permanent crops: 13%, permanent pastures: 18%, forests and woodland: 5% and other: 44% (1993 est.) Irrigated land: 750 sq km (1993 est.)

Environment - current issues: extensive deforestation (much of the remaining forested land is being cleared for agriculture and used as fuel); soil erosion; inadequate supplies of potable water

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban

Vulnerabilities to natural disasters: review of main natural hazards to which Haiti is vulnerable: 2001-2010

Disaster	Date	No Killed
Storm	17/09/2004	2754
Flood	23/05/2004	2665
Storm	02/09/2008	529
Storm	28/10/2007	90
Storm	26/08/2008	85
Storm	06/09/2008	74
Flood	07/10/2007	41
Epidemic	April -03	40
Storm	07/07/2005	40
Flood	20/12/2003	38
Earthquake	12/01/2010	300 000

Source: "EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, www.em-dat.net - Université Catholique de Louvain - Brussels - Belgium

II- Brief Description of the Selected Disaster Event:

Tacking in account the table upward, it's logical to talk about the disaster that had cause many loses in terms of human beings:

January 12^th, 2010 an earthquake of 7, 3 magnitude to the Richter scale struck at the heart of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince and the towns of Leogane, Jacmel and Petit Goave.

It resulted in more than 300,000 deaths, as many were wounded according to the national authorities, 1.5 million people homeless and displaced, broken families, orphans without resources. One could go on and on to enumerate the devastating consequences of this earthquake.

The damages and losses, the measures of which rise by the day, are estimated at nearly US$8 billion according to the assessment of damages and losses carried out during the past few weeks. The same study puts needs at around US$11.5 billion.

«Soon after the earthquake it was evident that such a toll could not be the outcome of just the force of the tremor. It is the result of:

Unbalanced distribution of economic activity, with over 65% of economic activity and 85% of fiscal revenue concentrated in Port-au-Prince»

The main institutions involved in Haiti disaster Management and their respective roles:

Taking in account that Disaster management is a circle with the following steps (Prevision, Mitigation, Preparedness, Response/Relief, and Reconstruction/Rehabilitation) that are interconnected; the institutions below are the main:

- The Civil Protection: Active in coordination of the country contingency planning , Search and rescue when any disaster occurs and works in collaboration with the ministry of publics works Transport and Communication and Ministry of interior.

- The Ministry of Environment: carry out study in term of natural & technological Hazards that can lead to disasters. Supervise activities on water and sanitation when response is given to the affected population.

- The Ministry of Economy and Finances: provide facilities on importation of disaster management goods; give necessary funds to governmental actors in the area of Disaster management

- The National Police: Secure the population and theirs valuable items during disasters, also identified the affected peoples and have a fire brigade department

- The Ministry of Interior (central administration): coordinate in the name of the government activities of all actors in the central crisis committee and have representative doing the same in the field where the assistance is provided.

-The Ministry of Heath and population: Coordinate the provision of Health facilities to all victims of disasters and also supervise the health contingency plan to avoid epidemics (Cholera for example). Also provide social protection to the victims mostly the most vulnerable (Children, Women and elderly).

- The Ministry of transport through its meteorological department that provides prevision information on hydro climatic Hazards that can lead to disasters like floods, hurricanes and Tsunami.

- The Ministry of Mines and Geology through its institute of geological research that can provide forecast information on possible earth quake areas.

Most of the ministries and public administrations named upward are represented and play the role as mentioned. The only government structures that are not available nationwide are fire brigade and Civil protection.

The councils are also part of this organisation being structure that works for the wellbeing of communities under theirs jurisdictions.

More over, concerning legislation there's an ORSEC plan (Relief Organisation) that highlight the role of all the government organisation in case of disaster... this plan also precise that when a disaster occurs the government representative chaired here by the interior ministry when there's a national crisis, or the divisional officer when the crisis is minor at the level of his area of commandment... he have the right to mobilise all public and private means for the disaster/Crisis Management.

a) Victims who have subscribed to all risks insurance before the disaster can been compensate and for this purpose the need to call for expertise from the company to evaluate loses and provide a report... this is not so easy because here in Haiti there's only one insurance company (own by the state).

b) Victims without insurance hope to receive aid to rebuild their life (Houses and other amenities) from the state and the international community, that's why most of the victims (98%) had theirs eyes, turn to Haiti international Reconstruction meeting that took place on March 31^st 2010 in New York.

The relationship between the centralised and decentralised structured is not so bright, because, most of support/assistance received by the centralised is not forwarded in the field according to the needs assessment reports but according to political or ideological consideration.

To feel this gap most international NGO working in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction prefer being in direct contact with the communities through the decentralised structures...

The private sector is not involved in Disaster Risk Reduction, because not so sure of accountability when they associate with governmental actors who are the main leaders and not transparent

IV- Strengths and Weaknesses of the National Disaster Management System

Sectors/Activities	Strengths	Weaknesses
Legislation	There's a national legislation the ORSEC Plan That define the role of all the organisation public and private who should be involved in Disaster management form preparedness to response	This ORSEC Plan that what signed in the mid 80^th have not been updated and there's no application decree that suppose to define the active role of all the counterparts
Prevision	The structure like the meteorology department exist and are willing to provide right information	The Prevision material is not so new and can not give close to good data. These materials are not disseminated nationwide. Seismograph prevention tools are obsolete and could not be useful during the last earthquake
Mitigation	Concerning known seasonal disasters like storms and floods ,measures have been taken in the past with the clearance of drains	There's no national focal point organisation that centralised mitigation activities. Local communities ideas are not always taking in consideration when it comes to take majors decision on mitigation issues
Preparedness	Auxiliaries state organisation like the Haitian Red cross on its Disaster management activities always make sure that the put in place yearly contingency stock for immediate assistance when a disaster occurs . Most of international organisation working in the field after the Jan 12^th Earthquake are also trying to apply this approach.	The government which supposed to play major role on this aspect is not working to put in place a platform or to help the decentralised structures to think of preparedness. Most of ideas and strategies are always focused on response that should come from international community.
Response /Relief	The international community is always ready to help Haiti in case of any minor or major disaster.	The response/Relief Activities are not in some cases based on good assessment. Some food items giving during this activity destroy the local market and production. The minimum standards are not applied in most of the cases when the assistance is giving.
Reconstruction/Rehabilitation	Many Actors and the state has put in place a national reconstruction plan with strategies axes and main priorities .	This is the weakest aspect; no good reconstruction plan has been so far applied since Haiti is facing Disasters. All activities regarding this aspects are most of the time centralised

V- Recommendations for Improvement:

After all the above analysis and referring to all the training material, discussions debate and Personal research we will have the following suggestion, recommendations for the improvement of disaster management system in Haiti.

· Concerning the legislation, the government should think on updating the ORSEC Plan by removing or adding actors in a determine period ...The government should also think to put in place a national platform ⁽Referring to the Hyogo framework of Action) liking together all actors public, private, civil society, National organisation and international organisation working in all areas and aspects of disaster Risk reduction.

· On prevision, the scientists need to come together and harmonise their points of views on forecast methods that should not limit theirs targets only on Flood and Hurricanes. An insight should be oriented on other probable disasters... Still on Prevision the collected information like rain forecast or the wind speed should be disseminate on time to the appropriate structures doing early warning in other to help them alert the endanger population .

· Talking on Mitigation: local communities and decentralised structured like council have to take in possession this activity in order to properly manage the maintenance, this is the case of water drainage system if well cleaned with a good planning taking in account rainy season calendar, will reduce the impact of Flood... The government in this aspect can think strategically nationwide but provide means to the structure on the field level to apply the adequate measures.

· Preparedness should not only be the business of humanitarian agencies, The government at central level can also take appropriate measures to put in place contingency stocks of food and non food items...Warehouses in this case can be decentralised to communities and local councils and the crisis committees who have to be in place before the disaster need to be trained on Sphere minimum standards without forgetting to organised simulation exercises.

· Specialised teams have to be ready at local and national levels, to provide adequate Response/Relief ... The government have to think of the customs facilities to reduce the delay of relief goods in case that the international community have to steep in to provide assistance...

· After Response/relief, the affected populations are awaiting Rehabilitation/Reconstruction. This aspect has to be taking in consideration and seriously... The fund can be mobilised by the central government, but for the implementation the decentralised structures including the beneficiaries needs to actively take part. A good Rehabilitation/Reconstruction plan been the one putting in priority the population needs not necessary the central government ideas.

2- EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, www.emdat.be - Université Catholique de Louvain - Brussels - Belgium.

5- United Nations International strategy for Disaster Reduction(UNISDR) terminology on disaster Risk reduction 2009

6- National Disaster Risk Management Systems Case Studies Disaster Management Systems in Select Countries1: Latin America and the Caribbean

7- National Disaster Risk Management Systems Presentations Session 1 Slide 1 Institutional Arrangements and Organizational Structures of Disaster Management Systems Katherine Kelman

8- The Sphere Project ; Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response 2004 Edition