Picture Story - Haiti

Eighteen months after the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th, 2010, killing nearly 230,000 people, many of the affected people are still in makeshift camps. Of the 1.6 million people originally displaced about one million are now gone home, but more than 600,000 people are still in precarious living conditions.

Still as committed as it was in January 2010, the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO) continues to fund projects in the country, many of which support the return of people rendered homeless by the earthquake to their old neighborhoods.

The pilot project implemented by Solidarité International, a French NGO, in the district of Bristout-Bobin, Port-au-Prince, is an intervention that has received €3 million in financial support from ECHO. The project has several components, each designed to address obstacles blocking the return process: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), support to local associations and committees, and clearing of rubble.

Concerning this last point on the clearing of rubble, by the end of the program, more than 2000 m² of land (200 properties) and 12 000 m3 of debris have been cleared. 2,700 Haitians have been the direct beneficiaries of these "Cash for Work" programs receiving a steady income for their manual labour.

Photos: ECHO/I. COELLO
ECHO/SOLIDARITÉS