Haiti earthquake 2010

On 12 Jan 2010, Haiti was hit by the most powerful earthquake to strike the country in 200 years.  More than 220,000 people were killed; 300,000 injured and more than one million made homeless.  

The situation in Haiti now

Three years on from this devastating earthquake, over one million Haitians are still in need of humanitarian aid according to the United Nations.

This includes the 358,000 people still in camps, 500,000 people who are food insecure and around 73,500 children under 5 years of age facing malnutrition.

Haiti is also likely to face a second consecutive below average harvest due to early season dryness and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy in November 2012, which affected 1.5 million people.

Since the start of the cholera outbreak in October 2010, around 632,000 cumulative cholera cases have been reported and more than 7,600 people have died as a result.

What Oxfam is doing

During the first year of the humanitarian response we helped 500,000 people, through providing access to sanitation and water in camps, supporting protection programs for victims of gender based violence, and promoting livelihood creation through cash for work programs and support to small-scale enterprises.

In 2011, we made a transition from emergency response to longer-term rehabilitation and development-focused programming, gradually leaving the more than 120 camps where we had been working. We handed over most of our water and sanitation (WASH) programs to trained water committees and established alternative WASH provision mechanisms in all the camps we exited. We continue to monitor the camps in order to respond if the need arises and we do regular training with water committees.

We are now working in communities rather than camps, identifying and engaging with Haitian organizations as partners in initiatives to strengthen citizen participation.

In 2012 we reached 325,000 people through:

• building stronger and safer neighborhoods by supporting the construction of long-term sanitation services;
• responding to the cholera outbreak by providing clean water and sanitation services, public health education campaigns, distribution of hygiene kits and oral rehydration salts;
• supporting employment creation through development of small enterprises; 
• working with small scale farmers to support their livelihoods

We have also responded to tropical storms Isaac and Sandy, through distributions of seeds and other materials to farmers and cholera prevention activities.

Furthermore, in order to try and reduce Haiti´s vulnerability to future natural hazards, Oxfam has continued its work in Disaster Risk Reduction by creating and training local protection committees and rehabilitating irrigation canals.

> Blog: How Oxfam helped families get back on their feet with work projects, grants and loans

Explore Oxfam's response to the Haiti earthquake

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Haiti earthquake response: thank you

After the earthquake, we raised approximately $98 million for our three-year earthquake response program. A further $8 million was raised in 2011, bringing the total to $106 million. By the end of 2011 Oxfam had spent $96 million of these funds and by the start of 2013 had spent 96 percent of the $106 million total. With some additional funding, Oxfam has an estimated total budget of $8 million for work in Haiti during 2013.

This is a significant amount in three years, but with all of the continuing challenges in Haiti – like the cholera outbreak and destructive hurricanes and limited government capacity to handle these challenges - a stronger and more efficient commitment is needed.

Oxfam has been working in Haiti since 1978. At peak we had nearly 1000 staff in Haiti, 90 percent of them Haitian. In January 2013, we have about 330 staff, with the same percentage of Haitian.

We have worked with over 100 community organizations in the implementation of our programs.

Read more

Read the Oxfam Haiti Progress Report for 2011

Our 2-year Haiti response update

Read: Haiti – The Slow Road to Reconstruction: Two years after the earthquake (January 2012).

An economic lifeline for women in rural Haiti

Latest Haiti blogs on our Conflict & Emergencies Blog channel

Follow @oxfam for the latest Oxfam International updates, reports, blogs and links to relevant content.

Updated 10 January 2013