The 2010 hurricane season is predicted to be one of the wettest on
record and the Government of Haiti and the international community
are urgently working on disaster preparedness for hurricane-prone
areas of the country.

The city of Gonaives is the most vulnerable to hurricane-related
destruction in Haiti, and has been hit by two 100-year floods
within four years during which over 5,000 lives were lost. Due to
chronic deforestation and soil erosion in the mountains surrounding
the city, Gonaives is regularly inundated with rainwater and
avalanches of mud.

In conjunction with local government, the IOM Programme de
Revitalisation et de Promotion de l'Entente et de la Paix (PREPEP)
recently completed a stand-alone hurricane shelter located outside
Gonaives, with room for 500 people.

The programme has also rebuilt and/or replaced 26 school
buildings destroyed by flooding in recent years. Several of the new
schools were built with the first floor raised one metre higher
than the original structure, and with a second floor that could
provide additional space as needed in the event of recurring
floods. While not built as hurricane shelters, schools have served
as traditional evacuation shelters in Haiti.

Newly completed drainage canals in the Trou Sable and Chanflot
communities of Gonaives will help to mitigate the effect of
hurricanes on these flood-prone areas of town.

"The impact of this project is immense. It's the beginning of a
new life for the residents,” stated Raoul Dolsaint,
coordinator of the Trou Sable community development committee. "In
the past we had short-term solutions to the flooding problem in the
area. Now though, when it rains we are not afraid, the rainwater
drains away easily, there is no mud on the roadway, and the market
continues to stay open," Dolsaint added.

Working with the Communal Agriculture Office, IOM has continued
to implement ongoing environmental protection efforts in the La
Quinte watershed surrounding Gonaives, in the wake of devastating
floods in 2004 and 2008, to address key factors leading to flooding
in the region.

The efforts, funded through the Haiti en Chantier programme,
include planting of elephant and vetiver grasses to fortify the
erosion control properties of rock wall terracing and improve the
fertility of the soil.

Both the PREPEP and Haiti en Chantier programmes are USAID
funded.

Additional hurricane preparedness efforts being undertaken by
the international community in Haiti include:

• the establishment of four logistics hubs around the country and
  prepositioning of 2 million emergency rations by the World Food
  Program (WFP);
• stockpiling and pre-positioning of emergency shelter and other
  non-food items by the Shelter Cluster;
• risk assessment and mitigation work in over 130 vulnerable
  camps in the Port-au-Prince area, carried out by the Camp
  Coordination Camp Management
• Cluster in conjunction with humanitarian partners; and
• outreach to displacement sites explaining basic preparedness
  techniques.

The UN has also set aside up to USD 13 million as emergency
funding in the event of a humanitarian crisis during the hurricane
season.

For further information, please contact:

Leonard Doyle

Media and Communication Officer

IOM Haiti

Tel: + 509 3702 5066

E-mail: "mailto:ldoyle@iom.int" target="" title="">ldoyle@iom.int