Port-au-Prince (24 March 2010) – Three quarters of the 1.3 million homeless people in the Haitian quake zone have now received emergency-shelter materials (tarpaulins, tents) ten weeks after the disaster that left much of the south of the country in ruins.

The work has proceeded even more quickly than that following Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. There, shelter was provided to just over 100,000 people a week. In Haiti, the average is 122,000 people per week, noting that search and rescue was the priority in the first two weeks.

The international community—through more than 50 non-governmental agencies—is working in partnership toward an agreed goal: 100 per cent shelter by May 1, the start of the peak month of the Haitian rainy season. The group is on course to meet this target.

Emergency shelter distribution is just one aspect of the drive to help homeless Haitians survive the looming rainy season. Aid agencies are also working on:

• Structural assessment of houses that may be safe to return to
• Relocation of displaced people to safe sites away from flood zones
• Clearance of municipal drains in Port-au-Prince
• Improved drainage and flood-resistant sanitation in existing camps.

Several agencies have developed prototype “transitional” houses—small structures with wood or aluminum frames that can be built cheaply and easily, potentially in large numbers. World Vision is working with other organizations which will clear and prepare the land, and create foundations for these structures.

“The style of housing World Vision is introducing need not be considered temporary or transitional in itself,” says Rod Imer, World Vision’s shelter expert. He has worked with a company specializing in post-disaster shelter to design aluminum-framed houses that are sturdy, pliable and easy to assemble.

“These frames can be used with tarpaulins or canvas for immediate shelter and privacy,” explains Rod, “then take on building materials, doors and windows as they become available. They are movable, appropriately sized for families, and can be arranged in a way that forms communities, not line-houses.”

Construction has not begun on these homes, as World Vision and its partners are waiting on the government to release land. In the mean time, World Vision is providing shelter for children and families in camps by distributing 17,258 tarpaulins and 2,817 tents.

To further mitigate the effects of the rain for families living in the camps, World Vision has created cash-for-work teams of 20 people to improve shelter by:

• replacing worn tarps
• repositioning tarps to ensure rain run-off
• placing poles inside the centre of each tarp and securing them to the ground to lift the tarp and improve the rain run-off
• digging trenches around the camp to help reduce flooding

World Vision is also helping in 17 camps by providing infrastructure in the form of toilets, showers, adequate drainage and rubbish removal, health clinics and services for mothers and children. These camps are not marked for priority relocation and will not close before the rainy season begins.