ACT Situation Report: Haiti Earthquake 17 Mar 2010

ACT Situation Report: Haiti Earthquake 17 Mar 2010 11:51:00 GMT
Source: Action by Churches Together (ACT) - Switzerland
Elisabeth Gouel
Website: http://www.act-intl.org
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

Sitrep

Haiti - No 09/2010

Geneva, March 5, 2010

General situation: (OCHA)

The Government and humanitarian actors are coordinating to determine the scale of humanitarian needs in Nippes and Sud departments following floods on 27 February.

President Ren� Pr�val flew to the affected areas on 4 March in order to survey the damage. Priority needs following the earthquake of 12 January continue to be emergency shelter, site management, sanitation and food.

WFP and its partners will start its surge operation of general food distributions on 5 March.

The operation will target 1.9 million beneficiaries with a two week ration of rice and a one month ration of beans, corn-soy-blend, oil and salt.

Protection monitoring teams are visiting an average of eight displacement sites per day. Around 300 experts from Haiti and abroad have been working in Port-au-Prince on the Post Disaster Needs Assessment and Recovery Framework (PDNA).

The Clinton Foundation has donated, through the logistics cluster, 40 International (Penske) trucks of 10-15 metric tons capacity for inter-agency use. Another 140 smaller 1.5 - 2.5 metric ton vehicles were also donated and will be registered and insured by WFP for use by organizations with mid- to long-term projects in Haiti, as well as by government partners.

Information on the ACT Coordination:

- Carlos Rauda will cut short his mission as Rapid Support Team coordinator and leave Haiti on 7 March for Chile. A big thank you to all RST members who joined the team. NCA, as manager of the RST system, will be asked to help with an evaluation of the RST experience. An easy-to-administer questionnaire will be prepared and sent to members shortly.

- ACT Alliance is in discussion with candidates for coordination and communication team. A part time security advisor, Mr Guito Clervil, has started his work. The composition of the team will be discussed at the next phone call with members. Phone call is proposed to take place on Tuesday 9 March (please come forward with proposals for agenda).

- ACT General Secretary John Nduna is expected to arrive in Haiti on 7 March. A programme was prepared and circulated to the members. John will meet members, partners, church leaders, members of the Haitian Government and bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors. A communicator and a photographer will accompany him and send stories and pictures.

Information by sectors:

Communication: more stories have been produced by Emily Sollies (text) and Jonathan (pictures).

Psychosocial: Church of Sweden psychosocial and staff care is on-going.

Quality and Accountability: The HAP and Sphere support mission to ACT members in Haiti is concluded. As discussed, support will continue, possibly under the larger umbrella of NGO coordination support office.

The team provided a debrief in Geneva on 4 March. A report on the initial findings of the mission has been shared and a final report will be sent. The lessons are:

- the mission was positive as a support for members to check on the needs of members to integrate quality and accountability aspects in the planning and implementation. However, the timing of this mission was not optimal, since members had been busy with appeal preparation and were overstretched. The capacity of members and partners to be accountable to the affected population has been found wanting. There is need to work on providing quality services and to introduce feedback and complaint mechanisms for the population.

A plan on quality and accountability was developed and sent to the ACT Alliance. The institutional set-up for the support is still under discussion.

Specific Reports from ACT Members and Partners

Church World Service

Service Chretien d'Haiti (SCH) Monitors continue to provide psychosocial services to People with Disabilities (PWD) in the six areas around PaP. Monitors are registering/documenting cases in those areas. Monitors have been also supported by the CoS psychosocial team.

CWS and SCH continue to attend the sub-cluster meeting of Injury, Rehabilitation and Disability (IRD) in coordination with GoH ministry office.

CWS has delivered two Finn Ch Aid school tents to be used in the PWD program in coordination with CBM and Handicap International.

SCH guest house: House manager has been contracted and, with SCH staff,is getting guest house ready for ACT members this week. CWS has provided hygiene and baby kits and medicine boxes to NCA, CAID and LWF for distribution. More kits on the way for ACT members.

CWS partners and monitors have participated in the two HAP/Sphere workshops provided to ACT members.

CRWRC

An additional 200 households in Masson have been surveyed and data entered onto spreadsheets.

Distribution lists for food distribution have been prepared for distribution on Tuesday (9th March).

WASH activities for the town of Masson continue. Because of the high water table, the plan for emergency earthen latrine pits will have to be altered to include septic tanks and construction of these emergency pits. Latrines will take longer than expected to install. Well contractors to visit Masson this week so that wells for potable water may be drilled asap.

The Masson community development team leader has been active in the distributions along with the Masson CBO. He will also be attending the psychosocial workshop offered by ACT.

CRWRC staff met community leaders in order to gain information re temporary housing option decision. They have also been debriefed re the tarp distribution and are now planning the food distribution.

Prices and suggestions re temporary shelter have been collected for a decision regarding temporary shelter for households in Masson.

Hygiene and kitchen kits as well as rubble tool prices have been acquired and final decisions re these items will be made this coming week.

A plan for house inspections in Masson has been formulated and is planned to take place in the next couple of weeks.

Repairs to the ICTA school near Masson have begun - it is the future CRWRC relief office site.

Lutheran World Federation - World Service LWF Haiti Activity Report - 21 February to 5 March

The LWF Haiti program is continuing to provide daily drinking water to displaced settlements of Nerett and Saint Therese in P�tion-Ville. An assessment on water, sanitation and public hygiene has also been conducted in L�og�ne and Petit Goave. With the rains arriving, a focus on hygiene and sanitation is increasingly important.

Many activities have been carried out in the psychosocial sector. Two psychosocial assessments have been carried out in the operational areas of Gressier, L�og�ne, Grand Goave and Petit Goave. Four trainings were carried out with the two psychosocial assessment teams. A training was also conducted for 60 teachers who were looking for support in returning to school and relating to children after the earthquake - specifically dealing with how to address questions and fears about the earthquake. The psychosocial support assessment questionnaire has been finalized and translated into French and Creole. A recreation trip took place with national LWF staff to a nearby beach where psychosocial discussions took place regarding experiences during and after the earthquake, stress and reactions. Two psychosocial officers were recruited and began their LWF contracts with a psychosocial training on Thursday March 4.

An MOU has just been signed with a local partner organization RNDDH (R�seau National de D�fense des Droits Humains) who are currently carrying out assessments in the area that LWF will be establishing a new office base - L�og�ne. This implementing partner is currently identifying families who will benefit from the distribution of food and non food items planned for the week of March 15. These distributions will take place in Gressier, L�og�ne, Grand Goave and Petit Goave.

LWF Haiti is otherwise moving forward with the implementation of the ACT Appeal through identifying land for an office in L�og�ne, calling for tenders for NFIs to be distributed, and arrangements for transportation of said items upon procurement.

Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH)

DKH continued its distribution of relief good in Jacmel and Bainet. As of February 28, DKH has provided kits to 4950 people. Distribution roll out for another 560 families (about 3600 - 4000 people) is planned until March 9. The kits include: one tent, two sleeping mats, two blankets, one mosquito net, one balti, one dish to wash cloths and one dish for personal use.

Please refer to previous sitreps for more information on the entire ACT Response, as well as the ACT Appeal HTI101.

Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Chief Finance Officer (jkg@actalliance.org).

(ends)

ACT Alliance - Action by Churches Together - is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working together for positive and sustainable change in the lives of people affected by emergencies, poverty and injustice through coordinated and effective humanitarian, development and advocacy work.

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