SITUATION ASSESSMENT REPORT
September 10
Current Situation - Gonaives
The situation in Gonaives remains extremely critical. The city got flooded again after the evening intensive rains (September 10), and people have to walk in chest deep waters through most of the central parts to get to safety. Many refugees are fleeing the city often walking for days to get to areas less affected by the cyclones. The condition of the roads and the ongoing recurring flooding make the situation even more difficult. The food distribution is improving, however it is grossly insufficient and fails to reach the hard hit areas. Food trickles very slowly, and seems to be running into logistical and distribution problems. There are signs noticed that NGO and gov’t cooperation is beginning to improve, however the challenges and obstacles in terms of logistics are hampering a more tightly coordinated effort from taking place. There are wide-spread reports both on the street and on the radio of increase of mortality rates in temporary shelters because of starvation and dehydration especially amongst the elderly and sick. The exhaustion amongst the population is beginning to get obvious, and signs of violence are erupting everywhere. It is beginning to become unsafe for foreigners to move without significant security measures. AMURT, usually one of the most tightly integrated with the communities NGO, has had to suspend all normal travel and has set up security procedures for all of its staff.
The extent of the disaster is extraordinary in terms of the long-term impact on human lives and infrastructure. The situation is serious not just in the Artibonite, but also in several other areas, all cut off from access to PauP. A separate report on the situation in Northwest Artibonite, where AMURT’s area of intervention is, will follow. However it is in the Gonaives region where immediate attention needs to be focused to avoid a humanitarian disaster of unforeseen proportions. It has become clear that the capacity of the local organizations is not sufficient to overcome the difficulties, and this is compounded by the government inefficiency, political standstill, lack of strong local gov’t structures, and lack of a platform of coordination and communication that is well established and transparent to all. Regardless of the upbeat statements and daily communiqués issued by the various agencies daily it is clear that we all have been caught insufficiently prepared for the scale of the disaster, and the potentially devastating impact it might have on the fragile Haitian society.
AMURT/EL Strategy
Since September 1 when the disaster stuck the AMURT/EL team has been working around the clock to evaluate and plan the Rapid Response to this crisis. This phase has been severely hampered by ongoing floods, continued lack of transportation routes between cities, lack of coordination and communication amongst various partners, and our own decreased capacity to function normally. AMURT/EL’s staff of 80 people is roughly split in three equal contingents between the NW area of operation, Gonaives, and P-au-P. We have mobilized each person on the team, restructured the organigrams of each team, and have began following a plan of Emergency till specified otherwise.
Our priority in this Rapid Response operation is to work very closely with our local community-based partners and leaders, and reinforce their efforts through setting up reconstruction community-participation schemes aiming to address the immediate needs of the population, and prepare the ground for revenue generation and long-term development programs along AMURT’s strategy of community participation and empowerment.
The following is a brief list of AMURT’s activities over the past week:
- Daily coordinating meetings (staff and leaders)
- Field evaluations and damage assessments (agriculture, education, food security, and health)
- Coordination with our existing community partner organizations – AEPA, CIDEP, etc.
- Community evaluation forums and house to house visits
- Identification of needs’ priorities and beneficiary groups
- Identification of priority areas of intervention, zones of impact, timeframes
- Identification of local implementing partner organization
- Contact with all of our existing funding partners – CRS, CIDA, WFP, FAO, MINUSTAH
- Contact with the Ministry partners – Education and Agriculture, and with the local authorities – Majistrats, Kasek, Asek
- Identifying of the zones of immediate intervention and the partners in each zone
- Identifying the capacity of AMURT to intervene in each domain, and in the priority areas
The current strategies and identified partnerships of AMURT’s Rapid Response Operation are as follow:
- One Month Emergency Response - Gonaives
Focus:
Food security and emergency distribution in shelters and isolated neighborhoods (WFP)
Food-for-Work cleaning of schools (WFP)
Trauma Response for Kids – youth arts and yoga center (private donations)
Water Filtration – Bio-Sand water filtration stations for Gonaives (ACDI and private donations)
- Three Month Rehabilitation Operation – Gonaives and NW
Focus:
School Rehabilitation – Gonaives (WFP and ACDI)
Food-for-Work Initiatives (Infrastructure and Environment) – Lakes and Soil conservation and roads (WFP)
Health and Sanitation - Bio-Sand Water Filtration (ACDI), HIV program (CRS) and community health clinics in the NW (ACDI)
- 1-2 Year Rebuilding Program
Our regular programs will be reinforced and will gain additional emphasis on:
Revenue Creation – Iodized modern salt production (WFP and CRS)
Shelter and income generation – clay brick and tile community-based factories (ACDI)
Women’s Initiatives – Moringa, sewing, and arts cooperatives (ACDI)
Environment and Disaster Prevention (WFP, CRS, ACDI)
This brief update will be followed with a more comprehensive plan and strategy of intervention over the coming few days, as well as regular updates from the field. Please check regularly www.amurthaiti.org, which will soon be restructured to contain blogs and photo and story updates.
Rapid Response Coordinating Team
AMURT-Haiti
haiti@amurt.net
