Stories from the field
Red Cross starts building shelters
June 10, 2010
The Red Cross has begun building durable shelters for survivors left homeless by Haiti’s devastating earthquake. Several prototype shelters – small wood or metal-frame houses with corrugated-iron roofs – were constructed weeks ago, including at the International Red Cross base camp near Port-au-Prince airport. Building sites are being cleared in Jacmel, Leogane, and Petit-Goâve as part of Canadian, Spanish, and Netherlands Red Cross program respectively are the first to be allocated to quake-affected families. The International Red Cross has set itself a target of 30,000 shelters as part of its global appeal for Haiti, worth nearly $ 200 million. The Canadian Red Cross aims to build up to 7,500 hurricane and earthquake-resistant shelters and, with the help of the Haitian Red Cross, has trained local carpenters in Leogane to construct the wooden houses. |
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Although the Spanish and Netherlands Red Cross have committed up to 5,100 and 500 shelters respectively, they are facing the same construction challenges as the Canadian Red Cross and other aid agencies in Haiti. Finding legal plots of land to use has been a complex process as missing land deeds and a severely weekend government has significantly slowed down the administrative process.
Meeting the Challenges
In Makary, high in the mountains above Jacmel, the Canadian Red Cross and Haitian Red Cross volunteers have enlisted the help of the ‘Conseil d’Administration de la Section Communale’, Gelon Cadet Victor, effectively the village mayor, to navigate another path through the tangle of paperless Haitian land tenure.
If Victor and his officials will certify common-law tenure over a piece of land to which a person cannot produce deeds, the Canadians will build on it.
Francois Janes, 55, sits on the rubble of what used to be home for himself, his wife and their nine children. Their grapefruit, avocado and cacao grow nearby.
“When the quake came,” he says, “I just thought it was a very strong wind.” They all escaped unhurt.
“Now the Red Cross have explained to me that I will own the shelter they’re going to build here, and if for any reason I have to move I can dismantle it and take it with me.”
Says Charlie Musoka, Canadian Red Cross team leader in Jacmel: “Eighty per cent of our shelters are in downtown Jacmel. But the others are in quite remote areas where we might even have to use donkeys to get building materials up.
“We are scaling up construction activity, but the logistics are getting more difficult because of the rains.”
The Canadian Red Cross project in Jacmel, which has now secured a cluster of sites, was laying the foundations for its first houses this week. In the beginning, as many as 15 units per week will be constructed as land title issues are resolved. The process will be slow and patience is essential as the Red Cross continues to work with Haitian authorities to secure more usable land. The number of shelters that will ultimately be built and when they will be completed is dependant on the assessment of needs, land availability, the clearing of debris and other critical issues brought about by such a large scale disaster.
