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DE RUEHPU #0156/01 0422248
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FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0121
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0347
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA IMMEDIATE
INFO HAITI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000156 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV PINR PREL PREF HA
SUBJECT: USAID/DART HAITI EARTHQUAKE HUMANITARIAN UPDATE #5: ONE 
MONTH LATER 
 
REF: PORT A 0124; PORT A 0118; PORT A 0096 
 
¶1.  Summary.  One month after the earthquake, the humanitarian 
community continues to make significant progress in responding to 
the emergency needs of the affected population, providing food 
assistance to nearly 2.5 million people, increasing the 
distribution of emergency shelter materials to ensure adequate 
coverage prior to the rainy season, and expanding the geographic 
scope of the relief effort to areas outside Port-au-Prince. 
Improved coordination, coupled with the expansion of targeted 
humanitarian assessments, continues to facilitate accurate, 
needs-based assistance provision, enabling organizations to begin 
to direct resources and attention to early recovery needs as well. 
 
 
 
¶2.  USAID's Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART) in Haiti 
continues to assess humanitarian needs, coordinate assistance with 
the humanitarian community and Government of Haiti (GoH), and 
inform additional programming by USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign 
Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA).  Significant developments for the 
USAID/DART in the last week include the contribution to the Water, 
Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster strategy for rapidly 
addressing mounting sanitation concerns, progress on advising the 
Government of Haiti (GoH) on settlements planning and the 
pre-requisite rubble removal effort, and participation in 
preliminary planning efforts with the U.S. military to ensure a 
seamless and timely transition of current military relief 
operations to civilian humanitarian organizations.  To date, USAID 
has contributed nearly 
$304 million in earthquake response funding to address the critical 
needs of affected populations.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
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FOOD ASSISTANCE 
 
--------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  From January 31 to February 10, lead non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs), with support from the U.N. World Food Program 
(WFP), distributed food to more than 1.5 million people through the 
16 fixed-point distribution system.  As of February 10, WFP 
implementing partners had provided food assistance to nearly 2.5 
million earthquake-affected individuals in and around 
Port-au-Prince.  Lead NGOs at four sites - where distributions 
commenced after the January 31 start date of the two-week operation 
- plan to continue general distributions beyond the previously 
scheduled end date of February 13 in order to complete 
distributions to all identified households.  These areas also host 
a higher number of affected households. 
 
 
 
¶4.  WFP negotiations regarding the next phase of the operation 
continue with select NGOs, including organizations distributing 
food under the current scheme.  Partners will distribute a more 
diverse ration, including pulses and oil, to selected households. 
WFP expects the next phase to commence on or near February 20.  The 
Food Cluster has not yet determined the number of targeted 
households or security requirements.  During the first phase, 
however, all partners successfully conducted distribution without 
incident and therefore anticipate fewer security requirements in 
the second phase.  If necessary, partners will seek security 
support from the Haitian National Police and the U.N. Stabilization 
Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). 
 
 
 
¶5.  The GoH National Committee on Food Security, with support from 
WFP, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the USAID-funded 
Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), Oxfam, and Action 
Contre La Faim, is conducting an Emergency Food Security Assessment 
in 119 areas, villages, and settlement sites.  The preliminary 
results are scheduled for release on February 25. 
 
 
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Emergency Relief Supplies 
 
------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶6.  As of February 7, USAID/OFDA partner the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) had reached more than 48,000 
families, or approximately 232,000 individuals, with USAID/OFDA 
emergency relief supplies.  Families received varying combinations 
of hygiene kits, water containers, kitchen sets, and plastic 
sheeting. 
 
 
 
¶7.  The USAID/DART observed two well-organized and expeditious 
distributions by IOM and Project Concern International in 
Port-au-Prince neighborhoods during the week of February 8. 
USAID/OFDA consigns relief commodities to IOM, which partners with 
Project Concern and a number of other NGOs in the Non-Food Item 
Cluster to expand distribution capacity throughout affected areas. 
IOM also recently provided 20 NGOs with USAID/OFDA commodities, 
primarily plastic sheeting, for distribution to affected 
populations. 
 
 
 
¶8.  As of February 8, the Non-Food Item (NFI) and Shelter clusters 
had distributed 63,275 blankets, 83,672 water containers, 57,869 
hygiene kits, and 23,387 kitchen sets since the January 12 
earthquake.  In addition, coordination among partners distributing 
relief supplies in Petit Goave, Grand Goave, Jacmel, and Leogane 
continues to improve, with partners establishing regional 
distribution hubs to reduce pipeline congestion in Port-au-Prince 
and expand distributions to areas outside the capital, according to 
the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
(OCHA). 
 
 
 
¶9.  Agencies continue to explore a range of options for the 
systematic and targeted distribution of NFIs, while noting strong 
support in the cluster for the current community-based distribution 
system.  USAID/DART staff and other humanitarian donors met with 
the U.N. and NGOs on February 10 regarding NFI distribution 
schemes, including tandem NFI and food distributions at the 16 
fixed food distribution points, an option proposed by WFP but which 
raises some concerns for NGOs. 
 
 
 
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NUTRITION 
 
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¶10.  On February 9, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and WFP 
successfully conducted the first pilot blanket supplementary 
feeding intervention at two settlement sites in the Tabarre 
neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.  Teams registered all children 
under five years of age, as well as pregnant and lactating women in 
the two camps.  After conducting mid-upper arm circumference and 
vitamin A screenings, teams provided infants and young children 
between the ages of 6 and 59 months with three-week supplies of 
high energy biscuits.  Children between the ages of 6 and 36 months 
also received supplementary plumpy rations.  The intervention also 
included de-worming for children between the ages of one and five 
years and referrals of severe acute malnutrition to a stabilization 
center at Saint Damien's Hospital.  Nutrition partners will work to 
expand the program to all spontaneous settlement sites in 
Port-au-Prince, targeting 40,000 children under 5 years of age and 
17,000 pregnant and lactating women. 
 
 
¶11.  As of February 9, nearly 90 community outpatient centers and 
mobile units for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition had 
resumed operations throughout Haiti, according to the Nutrition 
Cluster.  Cluster partners plan to open 52 additional sites within 
the next two to three weeks. 
 
 
 
¶12.  Current nutrition support to the affected population includes 
approximately 60 sites established to provide counseling to 
caregivers on infant and young child feeding practices.  Nutrition 
partners report counseling more than 7,800 caregivers in affected 
communities and nearly 1,200 people residing in spontaneous 
settlements, as of February 9. 
 
 
 
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HEALTH 
 
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¶13.  According to the Health Cluster, trauma injuries constitute 
approximately 10 percent of all consultations as - a significant 
reduction in the last week - while the number of acute respiratory 
infections continues to increase, accounting for up to 25 percent 
of all consultations.  Health partners report a low incidence of 
infectious diseases to date. 
 
 
 
¶14.  The GoH Ministry of Health has approved the shortened disease 
surveillance form developed by the Mobile Health Clinic 
Sub-Cluster.  On February 8, the sub-cluster began training health 
workers on use of the form, and data collection is scheduled to 
commence later in the week, according to the USAID/DART. 
 
 
 
¶15.  USAID/DART staff report that the U.N. World Health 
Organization is providing 180 additional emergency health kits, 
with the first 60 kits scheduled to arrive in Haiti during the week 
of February 15.  The contribution will bring the total number of 
kits in-country to nearly 200 - including nine provided by 
USAID/OFDA - and the total number of beneficiaries over a 
three-month period to approximately 2 million people. 
 
 
 
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WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶16.  WASH cluster partners are providing safe drinking water to 
over 780,000 people per day through water tankering operations and 
water treatment plants at 300 sites across Port-au-Prince, Leogane, 
and Jacmel, up from the 519,000 individuals reached per day as of 
February 1.  In Jacmel, more than 260 temporary settlement sites 
are receiving water from cluster partners.  The cluster aims to 
increase the daily target for safe drinking provision to 1.1 
million persons. 
 
 
 
¶17.  The WASH Cluster continues to prioritize sanitation support 
for earthquake-affected individuals, particularly those residing in 
spontaneous settlements.  The WASH Cluster and the GoH National 
Potable Water and Sanitation Authority (DINEPA) plan to release the 
finalized cluster strategy on February 11, according to the 
USAID/DART.  USAID/DART WASH officers contributed to the strategy, 
which prescribes both the construction of trench latrines in less 
densely-populated settlement sites and the provision and regular 
maintenance of portable facilities in remaining sites. 
 
 
¶18.  USAID/DART staff expect the required 3,000 to 3,500 portable 
facilities to arrive within one month.  The WASH Cluster has 
identified 1,000 completed trench latrines in the settlement sites 
to date, and USAID/DART WASH officers expect USAID/OFDA partners to 
complete construction on the remaining requirement of 3,000 trench 
latrines by the last week in February. 
 
 
 
¶19.  A team of Swedish engineers arrived in Port-au-Prince on 
February 8 to construct a waste-disposal site in a suitable 
location, and thereby discourage the current practice of 
unsanctioned disposals in numerous unsafe sites across the city 
that increase flood risks. 
 
 
 
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SHELTER 
 
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¶20.  The January 12 earthquake displaced between 240,000 and 
300,000 households.  Since the earthquake struck, approximately 
93,500 households (approximately 468,000 people) have received 
transportation assistance to communities outside Port-au-Prince. 
[Note:  The GoH revised the number of households receiving 
transportation assistance to fewer than initially reported, likely 
due to improved reporting and monitoring mechanisms.  End note.] 
According to MINUSTAH, 90 percent of people transported outside 
Port-au-Prince are residing with friends and relatives, reducing 
the number of households in need of immediate assistance to between 
146,500 to 206,500 families.  As of February 10, more than 73,000 
households (approximately 366,000 people or 31 percent of the 
affected population) had received shelter assistance, primarily 
plastic sheeting and tents, from the 24 humanitarian organizations 
reporting to the Shelter Cluster. 
 
 
 
¶21.  The USAID/DART currently estimates sufficient quantities of 
plastic sheeting and tents in-country for at least 260,000 
households, at the rate of one plastic sheet of 
internationally-recognized quality per household.  [Note:  Given 
current space constraints in a majority of the spontaneous 
settlements, the cluster agreed on February 7 to provide households 
less than the standard-sized transitional shelter in the immediate 
term in order to meet all emergency shelter needs before the start 
of the rainy season on May 1.  If partners provide structures 
smaller than 18 square meters - the internationally recognized 
humanitarian standard - the humanitarian community must also 
develop a plan to mitigate the effects of crowded living conditions 
on drainage, sanitation, hygiene, health, and livelihoods, 
according to the USAID/DART.  End note.]  After meeting emergency 
shelter needs, the cluster plans to provide four plastic sheets to 
each family to meet transitional shelter needs. 
 
 
 
¶22.  According to OCHA, as of February 10, ten organized 
settlements existed in Port-au-Prince, housing nearly 77,000 
people, or 13 percent of the displaced population remaining in 
Port-au-Prince.  More than 300 spontaneous settlements still exist. 
The Shelter Cluster, the USAID/DART, and the GoH continue to 
evaluate potential locations for additional settlement sites, 
noting that the rapid removal of all rubble remains critical to the 
effort.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently arrived in 
Port-au-Prince to lead the U.S. Government effort to expedite 
rubble removal in the city.  The USAID/DART shelter and settlements 
advisor reports additional efforts by Italian, Swedish, and 
MINUSTAH teams, as well as local private sector construction 
entities, to engage heavy equipment in the rubble removal process. 
 
 
 
 
¶23.  In addition, on February 7, the National Geo-Spatial 
Intelligence Agency presented the USAID/DART a map of vacant and 
underutilized land in Port-au-Prince that identifies at least 45 
square kilometers of vacant land, indicating the availability of 
sufficient land for potential resettlement of earthquake-affected 
households, pending additional analyses of disaster risks and land 
tenure issues.  The USAID/DART shelter and settlements advisor 
expects the finding to help inform rubble removal and settlement 
planning by the GoH and humanitarian community. 
 
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USAID ASSISTANCE TO DATE 
 
------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶24.  As of February 10, USAID had contributed more than $303.6 
million in earthquake response funding, including more than $201.5 
million from USAID/OFDA in support of all humanitarian sectors, $68 
million from USAID's Office of Food for Peace, $20 million from 
USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (including $15 million 
transferred from USAID/Haiti), nearly $11.1 million from 
USAID/Haiti, and $3 million from USAID/Dominican Republic.  In 
total, the U.S. Government has contributed more than $537.6 million 
to the earthquake response. 
 
 
 
MINIMIZE CONSIDERED 
LINDWALL