Scale Model of Haiti Earthquake Shelter

Date / Period
2010
Object Type
Other
Topics
Disaster Management

On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake impacted the nation of Haiti, on the island of Hispaniola. The devastation was as swift as it was strong.

The earthquake levelled entire communities around the country. Tens of thousands of residences and commercial structures collapsed or were severely damaged. Important political institutions, such as the President’s Palace and the National Assembly had been damaged as well. Just two weeks later, dozens of aftershocks had been felt by a nation demolished by this earthquake.

The loss of life was unimaginable and the number of casualties rose very quickly. The devastation was made worse by the existing fragile economic and political infrastructure in Haiti. Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti required significant help in rebuilding to recover from this destructive event.

The earthquake that hit Haiti prompted an outpouring of financial support from around the world.  Canada was no different. Canadians donated record amounts of money to Haiti relief and the Government of Canada also matched donations totaling 40 million dollars.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, 1.3 million people had been living in tents. There was a very real and very tangible need for shelters that could better withstand hurricanes and earthquakes for the people of Haiti. As relief operations moved from providing immediate needs toward more long-term development, the Canadian Red Cross began a range of development programs and initiated a plan to build 7,500 homes for families who had lost their homes. Priority was given to the most vulnerable members of society, including isolated elderly persons and families without any financial support, among others. There was a public registration process and a transparent selection criteria was shared. Once a list of beneficiary families had been developed, the repeated process of building a shelter began.

These structures had some basic design and functional requirements: there would be one door and three windows; they had to be resistant to earthquakes, hurricanes and termites; crews of staff and volunteers would build them while beneficiary families would paint them. Each shelter was built  with a latrine. Perhaps most importantly, the shelters would belong to the beneficiaries.

With a simple design and a scalable process, these shelters helped to ease the suffering of families around Haiti. Warehouses were set up to house all of the materials required. The various modules were put together by teams repeating the same steps every time they began a new shelter. By the end of the shelter operation, there were 20 crews working to build these shelters. Each crew could put together a new shelter in three days. Their work, made possible by the generosity of Canadians, helped to rebuild Haitian communities.

Scale Model of Haiti Earthquake Shelter

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