One week after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, what happened?

One week ago, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southwest Haiti, destroying thousands of homes on August 14 and causing numerous deaths and injuries. Then, three days later, the Caribbean island was hit by Hurricane Grace: the victims now have to face heavy rain.

While reflecting on how officials and humanitarian actors coordinate humanitarian aid, the Civil Defense Directorate continues to manipulate – yet temporarily – the August 14 earthquake so as not to reconsider the chaos that took place in the capital after the January 2010 devastating earthquake.

• What is the human number?

As of Aug. 19, Haitian authorities had recorded 2,189 deaths from the quake, according to the Department of Civil Defense on Twitter. Most of the deaths (1832) took place in the south, but there are also a few in the northwest in the Nips, Grand Annes and Passin ‘Blue fields.

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Hospitals have already received 12,268 injured, including 9,158 in the south. But 332 are still missing; The Directorate of Civil Defense states that “search and rescue operations are ongoing.”

• What is material balance?

Many buildings, especially houses, were damaged or destroyed. According to the AFP, nearly 53,000 homes were completely destroyed and more than 77,000 damaged. According to the Civil Defense Report released on August 19, the southern sector was again hard hit, with 30,122 houses destroyed and 42,737 damaged.

• Which countries channel aid there?

Faced with the tragedy, the international community quickly showed its support by providing technical and financial assistance. The United States has hired eight military helicopters from Honduras to pursue medical evacuations of the worst-injured to specialized hospitals in the Haitian capital.

A field hospital will be set up by the U.S. military in the southern capital, Les Cai, and the number of earthquakes is significant in terms of human and material. “We have Air Force doctors to help,” General Hong Taylor told the Pentagon on Thursday. “The hospital structure is provided by the rotations of our helicopters, and more assistance and first aid will be provided today at the hospital,” he added.

The USS Arlington, a US Navy cruise ship and a British Navy ferry will be sent to Haiti to facilitate US helicopter operations. The European Union, for its part, has raised 3 million in aid, which includes material contributions from member states, particularly the water treatment plant acquired by France and the wastewater treatment plant provided by Spain.

In addition, Brazil announced on Thursday evening that it would send “search and rescue experts for collapsed urban structures and pharmaceutical equipment.”

• Why do authorities want to restrict humanitarian aid?

“In order not to repeat the mistakes of 2010, there will be no distribution of tents, no construction of camps. -Said to.

Not only food, water and emergency medical assistance, plastic sheets but also boards and nails have already been shipped via the first road vehicles from Port-au-Prince. IOM has set up a website that lists non-food donations that can be used to build shelters: only humanitarian actors duly registered with the Haitian government can collect equipment and provide details of their distribution activities to disaster victims.

“It simply came to our notice then [les endroits] There has already been help to always return to the same areas and avoid duplication, “explains Federica Chechet.” Private helicopters in some parts of the country are unknown to the government, “she laments.

In the aftermath of the earthquake in January 2010, more than 200,000 people were killed in the capital Port-au-Prince and its environs, with uncontrolled interventions by foreign groups in the country reinforcing Haiti’s nickname: “NGOs Republic”. The victims of the disaster were completely ignored by humanitarian actors who lived in more isolated areas and acted irresponsibly to the national authorities, and then the earthquake killed many senior government employees and almost all ministries and administrative buildings could not respond to the emergency. .