Julia Dorival, 63 from Redon.
Men, women and children in the department of Nippes, south of Haiti, are enduring repeated natural disasters, from which they struggle to rebuild their lives. In the past six months, the area of Nippes has suffered two large earthquake and flash floods.
The most recent earthquake hit the area on January 24th killed 2 persons, injured 52 and destroyed 542 homes, while damaging further 1,709.
One week later, on January 30th and 31st, heavy rains also caused serious flash flooding in large sections of the country, including Nippes, resulting in 5 deaths, 1 person missing and 2,581 people affected.
The repeated shocks affecting the people of Nippes, increase their vulnerability to the next crisis. Many of the people affected by the recent floods, were living in temporary shelters as their homes were damaged or destroyed in the August earthquake.
Emergency humanitarian assistance for the earthquake survivors has been slow and patchy. Many homes remain damaged and destroyed from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, let alone those in rubble from the August 2021 earthquake.
Reconstruction efforts have proven inadequate and have largely focused on public buildings while the people are left behind with very limited support. Donors must ensure that assistance reaches the most vulnerable and increases the people’s resilience to future shocks.