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 12th, 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:
ï Excessive population density
ï A lack of adequate building standards
ï The catastrophic state of the environment
ï Unregulated land use
Unbalanced distribution of economic activity, with over 65% of
economic activity and 85% of fiscal revenue concentrated in
Port-au-Prince»
.III- National Disaster
Management System:
The main institutions involved in Haiti disaster Management and
their respective roles:
At the central level (public Sector):
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.
At Decentralised Level :( divisions):
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.
Legislation policies and Strategies:
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.
Risk Transfer is managed in two ways:
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 31st
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
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