Earthquake Overview

In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, USAID has provided relief, recovery and long-term reconstruction assistance:

Relief (rapid, life-saving emergency assistance):

• Search and Rescue:  Deployed seven search-and-rescue teams as part of an international rescue effort that saved more than 130 lives.
• Emergency Food Assistance:  Provided emergency food relief for nearly 4 million people in the first three months after the earthquake, the largest emergency food distribution ever.
• Water:  Provided safe drinking water for up to 1.3 million people daily following the earthquake.
• Sanitation:  Installed more than 11,500 latrines and 25 water systems.
• Emergency Shelter:  In cooperation with international partners, provided basic shelter materials to 1.5 million people before the start of the rainy season in May 2010.
• Cholera:  Rapidly responded to the cholera outbreak in cooperation with other U.S. Government agencies, the Government of Haiti and the international community to quickly reduce fatality rates.

Recovery (bridging the gap from emergency assistance to reconstruction):

• Cash-for-Work:  Employed more than 350,000 people (about half of whom were women) in the first year after the earthquake through short-term, cash-for-work jobs, injecting more than $19 million into the local economy.
• Rubble Removal:  Cleared more than 2.7 million cubic meters of rubble out of the 10 million cubic meters of rubble created by the earthquake.
• Shelter Solutions:  Provided shelter solutions for more than 328,000 people.
• Education:  Constructed over 600 semi-permanent classrooms, allowing 60,000 students to return to school.
• Coordination and Planning:  Supported the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, the planning body for the Haitian recovery. 

Reconstruction (promoting sustainable, long-term development, requiring in-depth exchanges with new partners and Government of Haiti officials to design and implement projects):

• Core Housing:  USAID is currently building permanent housing near Caracol Industrial Park and north of Port-au-Prince. 
• Energy:  Constructed a 10 megawatt power plant, with planned expansion to at least 25 megawatt, for the new Caracol Industrial Park in Haiti’s north and is rehabilitating five electrical substations in Port-au-Prince.
• Economic Security:  Encouraged public-private partnerships through initiatives such as the Haiti Hope Project, a collaboration between the Coca-Cola Co., USAID, the Multilateral Investment Fund and TechnoServe, which will raise revenues of 25,000 mango farmers from $120 per year to more than $200 per year. To date, nearly 13,000 smallholder farmers have enrolled in the program and more than 40 percent of enrolled farmers are women. 
• Mobile Banking:  Pioneered the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, bringing mobile banking to Haiti. This initiative has so far reached five million transactions and allowed many Haitians their first access to banking services through their mobile phones. 
• Food Security:  Increased average crop yields of beneficiary farmers for corn (341 percent), beans (100 percent), and rice (129 percent) through agricultural activities. 
• Health:  Provided access to basic medical care targeting approximately half the Haitian population through our support of over 300 sites nationwide. 
• Disabilities:  Awarded four projects to address four different aspects of inclusion and provision of better and more accessible care for persons with disabilities. We have also increased physical access for disabled students and teachers in 19 primary schools and funded St. Boniface Spinal Cord Injury Center. 

At present, USAID is guided by the U.S. Government Post-Earthquake Strategy (pdf) to support sustainable reconstruction and long-term development in Haiti. The strategy follows the Government of Haiti’s Action Plan For National Recovery and Development of Haiti (pdf).  We are working closely with a number of other U.S. Government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Treasury, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of State—including the U.S. Embassy's Narcotics Affairs Section. Working with these agencies, we are better able to support a comprehensive approach to implementing four key pillars for development: infrastructure and energy, food and economic security, health and other basic services, and democracy and rule of law.  

Related Links: 

• Haiti “A Country Undeniably on the Move”
• Our Continuing Commitment to the People of Haiti
• Haiti: The First Year of the USG’s Long-Term Commitment
• Haiti One Year Later: “As long as I am alive, I have hope”
• A Look at Our Partners – Relief Work in Haiti
• Helping to Communicate Life-Saving Information to Haitians
• Building Back Better