An IOM country-wide assessment conducted between last November and January 2011 has found 810,000 people are still living in informal sites in Port-au-Prince and provinces. This is nearly half the figure last July of an estimated 1.5 million internally displaced Haitians. It is also the first time that the camp population in Haiti has dropped to well below one million.
The assessment, part of IOM’s work in leading and coordinating camp management efforts in post-earthquake Haiti and regularly carried out, suggests a downward trend in the camp population of about 100,000 people a month. The largest declines are being witnessed in the south of the country in rural or semi-urban areas where housing options are more easily available.
“While these figures seem a positive development, there is a long way to go. The displacement crisis in Haiti is the most visible and intractable issue. Getting people out of camps and into durable housing is key to long term recovery. However, there are many obstacles to doing this quickly and for Haitians, solutions can’t come quickly enough,” says IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.
Although an estimated 200,000 people have left the camps for transitional shelters, returned to damaged or rebuilt homes or simply left to live elsewhere, issues over land tenure, rubble, the lack of land preparation for construction as well as environmental concerns and risk mapping, are blocking more significant progress in resolving the displacement crisis.
“We have to acknowledge that life in camps will continue to be a reality for hundreds of thousands of people in the near future. In the meantime, the greatest possible efforts are being made to ensure that the displaced get the continued assistance and protection they need. As more camps continue to close down, this includes helping people without homes or livelihoods into more durable accommodation and into jobs,” adds Swing.
Until more permanent houses can be built, transitional shelters which can last up to five years are the best option. IOM is complementing its work to assist the displaced by building 8110 shelters in the most affected areas. To date, 3000 shelters have been completed by IOM.
Although camp management activities have been the least funded of any humanitarian response in Haiti (43%), IOM and partners are regularly monitoring 100 per cent of all spontaneous settlements to track levels of service and to raise awareness on difficulties that the displaced face. For 2011, the camp management cluster of humanitarian agencies has appealed for USD 93 million.
This funding will also help to ensure coordination of sustainable services to an ever increasing number of people returning to their homes or neighbourhoods.
IOM will also continue its efforts and vigilance in supporting the fight against the cholera epidemic. As a provider of last resort in camp management, IOM is implementing anti-cholera actions in 250 high risk camps including installing water and sanitation, establishing facilities for oral rehydration posts, distributing soap and aquatabs. Training has also been given to those in the camps on awareness, prevention and treatment.
The Organization has also targeted rural areas where there have been no cholera activities such as in and around Gonaives and Anse Rouge and is supporting the Haitian government in strengthening its anti-cholera work at main border crossings. IOM has also distributed millions of aquatabs, soaps, hygiene items and oral rehydration salt sachets to partners for their anti-cholera work and is establishing five regional warehouses to facilitate a continuous supply of material to areas in need.
“This illustrates IOM’s commitment to Haiti. The Organization has been working here since 1994, adapting its responses to people’s needs at any one time. IOM is in Haiti for the long haul to assist the displaced and to help find long-term solutions to their plight. We hope that by the second anniversary of the earthquake there will be far fewer people in need of a home and at risk of disease. But we are under no illusions about what can be achieved when so much still needs to be done,” states Director General Swing.
For additional information:
Jean-Philippe Chauzy Tel: 41 22 717 9361 - Mobile: 41 79 285 4366, pchauzy@iom.int
Jemini Pandya Tel 41 22 717 9486 - Mobile: 41 79 217 3374, jpandya@iom.int
Jared Bloch Tel: 41 22 717 9405 - Mobile: 41 79 812 77 34, jbloch@iom.int
