Haiti Security Update & Rain Menace- UN - (Repost)

11 February 2010

Further below I've posted a press statement from the UN Minustah Peacekeeping team in Haiti. It provides a summary of security efforts of the multi-country military force, and the overlap with non-security /aid activities.

Hightlights: As more Brazilian soldiers join the security operation, Minustah's top official, Alain Le Roy, told reporters in Haiti that the situation had improved to the level it was 'pre-quake.'

As many media and other reports have noted, there has been a consistent criticism of the focus on 'security' vs, for example, emergency 'food drops' in the early days of the quake response. Whether the additional security will aid with extreme needs for shelter remains to be seen in the days ahead. It's hoped it will help with security in the popular, very poor neighborhoods where many live without shelter and little access to food, though food aid has greatly increased from the many humanitarian groups working in the UN Cluster structure for food distribution.

UN officials have stressed the need to recapture many of the criminals who escaped from the collapsed National Penitentiary and are assumed to be behind increased gang violence in the poorest shantytowns where food and shelter services remain urgent. Attacks on individuals receiving food aid (bags of rice) at food distrubition points have required armed security protection, particularly for women. The UN and Haitian authorities shifted to a system of giving women the food, after too many incidents of rioting and violence involving young men with knives had created chaos at food distribution points. This threat meant that women and children were avoiding the sites. Since the shift to delivery of food to women - who distribute it to male members and family members - the delivery has been reportedly orderly and peaceful.

BUT there continues to be violence directed at women (and children) who have to carry the food back to their homes. Armed UN and Haitian security forces have had to escort these women back, but violence has still taken place, and attempts to steal the food by force make getting food a risky proposition for Haitian women.

Rain and Shelter Challenges - What's still needed....

Meantime, the EU has pledged the troops would be working to establish 'semi-permanent' structures before the rainy season (see story below). Starting yesterday, rain and even downpours hit Haiti, triggering some landslides.

Many people remain either without tents, or under cotton sheeting that does not protect from rain, while those under plastic sheeting are not sheltered from rain running on the ground. Many people are living in ravines where the danger of landslides is very high. Meanwhile, those in tent cities have limited latrines, though the UN and Haitian authorities have worked to dig and empty pit latrines. There is high risk of rain spreading this waste and increasing the risk of disease from exposure to unsanitary waste for those living in these open settings.

What's needed is a massive distribution of smaller tents that can fit into the areas where people have set up nightly camps OUTSIDE of tent cities. Larger family size tents that are favored by the UN, and because Haitians have large families, often do not fit the spaces where people are living.. in the streets at night, in front of their collapsed houses... on broken sidewalks....

Regardless, NEITHER types of tents are available in quantities needed now. Also: Before the rain, the use of bedding to create makeshift tents did provide some protection and privacy for people, but with the rain, this will not protect them enough from getting soaked.

Getting shelter and tents to Haiti - a major gap to fill quickly...

Many groups and people (UN, GOH, NGO, private citizens) are trying to get many more tents to Haiti, while the current UN humanitarian cluster effort has focused in recent days on getting bulk amounts of plastic sheeting to large groups, who can huddle underneath it. Many tents have been set up, but nowhere near the number needed for the huge displaced population in Port-au-Prince, or in other cities. Tens of thousands of people fled the capital and many are in the Artibonite valley, where shelter needs are also huge.

Efforts by private groups have not yielded that many results.

In one bright bit of news, a private US donor is providing huge, air-conditoined Cirque de Soleil tents to the Haitian government. These are currently bound for the Port of Miami, and will arrive in the period ahead. They will allow the government to have a good place to work. (And Yes, the delivery of circus tents is sure to create many jokes at the Preval government's expense. But really, there's nothing to laugh about here, nothing at all....).

What about motr military-style tents?

I've heard the teledjol - the gossip mill - in Haiti say that there might be scores of older stored tents in the US that are mothballed -- they are old style tents, not the new air conditioned, souped-up tents that you can see lining the Haitian airport now, where the UN troops are stationed. Is there a plan to deliver many more of these tents to Haiti?

I'll investigate and report back... soon.

TRAILERS, CARGO FREIGHT AND INSTANT FABRIC HOMES... WHAT's COMING...:

Large and smaller NGO and private groups in and outside Haiti are urgently seeking to import and begin producing different temporary or semi-permanent shelter. They include TRAILERS, RETOOLED CARGO CONTAINERS, and any number of popup tents and fabric houses....

FEMA LEFTOVERS: There's been an effort since the day after the quake by Haitian entrepreneurs to get their hands on a rumored large number of FEMA trailers (1500?)that were left unused after the Katrina hurricane. But the damage to Haiti's ports has made that impossible - until now - preventing sea delivery of these large trailers. There's also been an ongoing debate about Who Will Benefit? The Haitian government has wanted these, so have civil society actors, including NGOs and community groups. Will it be some combination of government and civil society? There are private businessmen in Haiti who are vying as I write to make this deal happen... as soon as they can.. Stay tuned.


Other structures that are being manufactured (in the DR - first prototype ready- (for living) include an oilcloth fabric 'house' - that is 3.5 square meter in size, with two windows made of galvanized steel and rain-resistant oilcloth type material covering, and can house 3 people to a family. (Cost US $1000). Production is starting this week on that model and the manufacturer says they can make and delivery 10 houses a week.

CARGO CONTAINERS: Some groups are hoping to retool cargo freight containers that are best suited to withstand seismic activity. These containers are arriving daily as the humanitarian corridor expands and port activity starts up (slowly).

Other groups are discussing any number of high-tech and low-tech materials, including rubble from the quake destruction, that can be recycled for use to rebuild some semi-permanent structures in time to protect from the brunt of the rainy season, which usually hits hard in March and April.

As it stands today, all good and clever ideas aside, private groups report that there aren't enough tents in the US to purchase or deliver fast, but that cheapter tents ARE available from China and could be imported in a few weeks time.

But the questions remains: who will buy these tents for the mass of homeless Haitians?

How can survivors who are already very poor, now homeless and unemployed, be expected to buy any tents?

Are the many NGOs arriving to help willing to buy bulk tents? Will the humanitarian effort deliver tents to many more Haitians consider some mass purchase and expedited delivery of tents from China? Again, stay tuned...

(Note: If anyone has contacts with companies that manufacturer rain-proof tents, such as REI or Eagles Nest Outfitters in the US, now would be a good time to encourage them to consider the urgent situation in Haiti, and a possible partnership with the UN or Clinton Initiative, or some humanitarian gesture to provide discounted, bulk tents to Haitians. Or email me. I've put several people on this hunt-track today.)

Bottom line: The rains are coming. The need is dire. Got a tent? Get it to Haiti, somehow. Find out who's leaving from your hometown, your local church/group/hospital. Every little bit will help...

Also, think of larger deliveries of tents to groups that can deliver them, like Food for the Poor, or the Salvation Army.

Now for the UN Press Story.......

Senior UN officials praise improving security situation in Haiti

11 February 2010 – Almost a month after a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti, senior United Nations officials said today that the security situation in the Caribbean country has recovered to being nearly the same as it was before the disaster and that the thousands of additional troops and police officers requested by the Security Council are on the way.

“As we speak, 900 additional troops from Brazil are arriving today and tomorrow,” Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told a press conference today in New York. “Also, an engineering company from Japan with 190 people is en route, as well as units from South Korea with 240 and from the Dominican Republic with 150 total personnel. There are also many other pledges, mostly from Latin America.”

In addition to the troops, Bangladesh, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain have pledged 500 police officers, with additional officers expected to arrive from India, Pakistan, Rwanda and Turkey.

“The international answer to the request has been tremendous,” Mr. Le Roy said of last month’s Security Council decision to send 3,500 additional military and police as reinforcements for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) troops and the Haitian local police, which he praised for being back on the streets just days after the earthquake.

Speaking by videoconference from Port-au-Prince, Edmond Mulet, the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative in Haiti, added that the security is under control but that are concerns about the 5,000 prison inmates who escaped from the national penitentiary during the quake, believed to be responsible for an increase in rapes at camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and battles over control of neighbourhoods. So far, some 200 have been captured.

“We are working closely with local police and the Government to go after them. The population is working with us and is denouncing them and telling us where they are hiding,” Mr. Mulet said.

The main priority in Haiti – where the Government said more than 210,000 people were killed, 300,000 injured and at least half a million others displaced by the quake ¬– continues to be humanitarian.

The first major rains of the year fell early Thursday, triggering landslides and destroying some buildings weakened by the quake.

Mr. Mulet said MINUSTAH had established rescue teams to assist with the new but expected challenges, describing the situation as "very worrying."

The European Union (EU) announced earlier today that it would mount a military operation to create semi-permanent shelter before the start of the rainy season, expected in April.

While details have not yet been announced, Mr. Mulet and Mr. Le Roy called this a “welcome initiative.”

In addition, Mr. Mulet praised the coordination between the various countries involved, the Haitian Government, UN agencies and programmes, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and noted that “life was coming back to the city.”

He added that while the logistics of providing aid in the first days were a “nightmare,” all seemed to be going well now. MINUSTAH and US military forces in Port-au-Prince were sharing responsibility for manning 16 food distribution centres in the city.

UNDP’s cash-for-work programme was now assisting 3,500 people, mainly women and children, and could target up to 100,000 with sufficient financial support.

The officials also praised the role of the Dominican Republic in the humanitarian efforts. Aid corridors to deliver relief supplies to Haiti by air, sea and land were opened in the immediate aftermath. The UN is now able to bring in 350 containers per day of supplies to Haiti, thanks in part to the Dominican Republic corridor, and is expected to be able to bring in 1,500 containers by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes is today in the Dominican Republic, where he is scheduled to meet with that country’s President Leonel Fernandez Reyna to express his appreciation for the work done so far on behalf of Haiti.

“I am well aware of the enormous efforts by the Dominican Republic to help the people affected by the earthquake in Haiti,” Mr. Holmes said in a statement.

“The people and the Government of the Dominican Republic have shown deep solidarity with the Haitian people. I am confident that this vital support will continue as long as it will be needed,” he added.

Mr. Holmes will also visit the border areas to see the humanitarian situation of the population there before heading to Port-au-Prince.



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