HAITI AFTER EARTHQUAKE

The UN World Food Program has warned that although the relief agency is gaining footing in Haiti, feeding over 2 million a day is the hardest task faced. All efforts to buy from local farmers and stores have been hampered due to effects of the earthquake. The WFP has used almost all its nutrient meals that don’t require water and are now distributing staple foods once cooking utensils and clean water are established.

There is an acute shortage of drinking water in areas affected by the earthquake. The water supply system, which before the disaster only provided 40% of the population of Port-au-Prince with clean water, has collapsed. Aid agencies are shipping in many bottles of water and distributing water purification tablets but many people claim to receive none or little. This should last 2 months with longer term services for rebuilt homes and new settlements.

The main challenges are post-operative care and logistical support to the health facilities in terms of fuel and medical supplies. Haiti's ministry of health and the World Health Organization (WHO) is revising its emergency response strategy and will gradually shift the focus from emergency surgical cases to primary health care. Amputations is one of the most common needs as a result of injuries. Doctors fear many amputees will languish or even die without proper rehabilitation. WHO says that as the emergency phase of the disaster winds down there would be need for mobile and community based clinics providing services as maternity care, post-operative care, and treatment for chronic health problems including diabetes, heart disease, HIV, and tuberculosis. Forty-three of the 59 hospitals, are now functioning, but they are having difficulty meeting the demand for health services, especially as the emergency medical personnel who arrived after the earthquake head home.
Also important is establishing surveillance networks to detect outbreaks of communicable diseases.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says work is under way to improve living conditions for the Haitians in make-shift until better solutions are found. The Haitian government is offering free transportation to 235,000 to cities in the north and south-west. Although the IOM had 10,000 tents stored in Haiti before the earthquake and has a further 30,000 abroad that will arrive soon, it says "the supply is unlikely to be enough. About 100,000 family-sized tents are needed to house about 500,000 people, but up to one million require shelter. Meanwhile, construction work by the Haitian government has begun for the establishment of organized tented settlements each accommodating up to 10,000 people. However, tents cannot accommodate people until they have water and sanitation facilities.
Tent settlements can only provide temporal shelters, particularly with the hurricane season expected to start around June.

Haiti will need a lot of money to rebuild the houses collapsed.
Many of the buildings that collapsed were poorly designed and built. There is a clear for higher technical standards to be used during reconstruction. The Haitian government with many other architectural experts have planned a new strategy for rebuilding for the future. This includes reducin the population and replacing slums with affordable homes.
While the main airport in Port-au-Prince was not put out of action by the disaster, it was equipped to receive the amount of relief flights in and out of the country.The US military took over control of the airport and 160 planes a day are currently able to land. Aid flights are also coming into and out of the Dominican Republic and several other regional airports in Haiti. The main port in Port-au-Prince has been damaged and the road transportation is hampered by piles of rubble and many people trying to move out of the capital. The internet and telephone service where down for some time. The situation is improved and the internet service and phone capacity restored. Large-scale capital investment, will be needed to bring the road, electricity, water and telephone systems up to standard, and rebuild Port-au-Prince's seaport and airport.

There has been concern about the security situation in Haiti, with fears that people not receiving aid would turn to violence. In a bid to boost security the UN Security Council is increasing the UN stabilization mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) by 3,500 troops to 12,651.
The EU is also deploying 150 officers of its new European Gendarmerie Force to assist the 3,500-strong UN police force, UNPOL, and the Haitian Police Force (HNP), which has, so far, managed to get half of its 8,000 officers back on the streets.

The UN Development Program is planning to employ 220,000 Haitians to work on debris and restoring infrastructure. This is to enable them support themselves.
Creating over 150,000 jobs over two years by using their advantage in clothing manufacturing, tourism, and agriculture has been along term UN strategy.
International investors had launched a number of big projects before the earthquake and will be encouraged to stay. Economists Paul Collier and Jean-Louis Warnholz, want to relocate economic activities from Port-au-Prince and develop secondary cities.

The UN believes that it is very important to repair any damage to agricultural infrastructure.
The FAO plans to give support to farmers before the major season that brings most of the production. They also hope to develop strategies that will help them become self sufficient as they mostly depend on imports yet 80 percent of the population is involved in agriculture.

Some nations at the donor conference in Montreal want the Haitian government to lead reconstruction effort. Mr. Preval elected in 2006 has initiated police and judiciary reforms. His government was also able to forge a national consensus on a recovery plan following the devastating hurricanes of 2008. The death of government workers and destruction of ministries has made the government almost lose control of the situation.