Overwhelming Majority of Haitians Living in Displacement Camps Want to Leave but Have Nowhere to Go
An overwhelming majority of people living in more than 1,000
displacement camps in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake want to leave
but do not have the financial resources to do so, according to the
first major intentions survey among earthquake displaced people
released today by IOM, ACTED and Communicating with Disaster
Affected Communities (CDAC) Haiti.
Luca Dall’Oglio, IOM Chief of Mission in Haiti, explains,
“The intention survey debunks the notion that people are
living in the camps out of choice. The survey indicates that it is
extreme poverty, worsened by the earthquake which has kept hundreds
of thousands of Haitians homeless for so long.”
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target="_blank" title="">Intentions des deplaces:
Haïti
According to IOM data, despite a sharp decrease in the camp
population from some 1.5 million last year, over 600,000 Haitians
still live in approximately 1,000 displacement camps scattered
mostly around the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The displacement in Sulaymaniyah comes roughly a week after IOM
initially responded to reports of shelling in the nearby village of
Qeladze. Working closely with local authorities and other partner
humanitarian agencies, including ICRC and UNHCR, IOM immediately
dispatched an assessment team to the area to identify the needs of
those displaced.
Although the camps continue to shelter Haiti’s vulnerable,
they are also a serious risk factor during the hurricane
season.
IOM-Haiti polled over 15,000 camp dwellers to find out why they
are still there despite the discomfort and insecurity posed by
living in tents or under tarps, through a cholera epidemic, and two
consecutive hurricane seasons. The revealing results and associated
recommendations are presented today following a collaborative
effort between IOM, ACTED and CDAC.
The Intentions Survey found that 94 per cent of people living in
camps would leave if they had alternative accommodation. Most of
those surveyed said if they had to depart immediately, they would
not have the means to pay rent or the resources to repair or
replace their damaged or destroyed homes.
Closing these camps is a top priority for the Government of
Haiti and the United Nations, international and local humanitarian
organizations are supporting the government to find urgently needed
durable solutions. The Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of
Haiti (ICRH) is currently reviewing President Michel
Martelly’s plan to assist families living in six camps to
return to 16 neighbourhoods in Port-Au-Prince.
To leave the camps, an overwhelming majority said that they need
financial aid if they are to rent accommodation, or repair or
rebuild their damaged houses.
Asked where they would wish to go, 17 per cent said they wished
to return to their original homes, 12 per cent said they wanted to
leave Port-au-Prince and go back to the countryside. Some 11 per
cent said they needed more information to decide, 10 per cent said
they wanted to go to a planned site, while 9 per cent were prepared
to return to their own home, even if it was not repaired. Finally,
19 per cent said they had no place to go.
“This survey provides factual-based evidence of the need
to communicate more and in a better way with the earthquake
affected population,” says CDAC Haiti Coordinator Ben Noble.
“All humanitarian partners have to better assess the
information needs of these communities to be able to adapt and
design relocation and return projects according to the needs and
concerns expressed by displaced people.”
The survey’s analysis recommends the provision of
financial aid to the displaced, the creation of more income
generating activities and microcredit facilities, the prompt repair
of damaged property, and the building of permanent houses and key
infrastructure. A task force comprised of Government of Haiti and
humanitarian partners, convened by the UN, is seeking solutions
precisely along these lines.
Over the coming months, more camp residents are expected to be
offered housing solutions and be encouraged to leave the camps.
The intentions survey and its subsequent analysis is a
collaborative effort of the Camp Coordination and Camp Management
(CCCM) cluster, the Shelter Cluster, UNOPS, IOM, ACTED, CDAC Haiti
and Internews. IOM Haiti carried out the surveying by telephone
using numbers in IOM’s registration database that tracks the
population of camps.
The report is available online at:
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"/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/media/docs/reports/Rapport-IOM-Acted-Intentions-Des-Deplaces-Final.pdf"
target="_blank" title=
"">http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/media/docs/reports/Rapport-IOM-Acted-Intentions-Des-Deplaces-Final.pdf
For further information, please contact:
Leonard Doyle
IOM Haiti
Tel: +509 370 25066
Email:
"mailto:ldoyle@iom.int">ldoyle@iom.int
or
Ben Noble
CDAC Haiti
Tel: +509 392 69498
Email:
"mailto:Coordinator@cdac-haiti.org">:
Coordinator@cdac-haiti.org