Basic Information

Country Name	Republic of Haiti
Capital	Port-au-Prince
Population	9,610,000 (2007, The World Bank)
Area	27,750 km2
Ethnic Groups	African origin (90%), mixed (10%)
Languages	French, Creole (Official languages)
Religions	Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism etc), Haitian Vodou

Source: MOFA homepage

Issues and Needs

On January 13 2010, at 6:53 Japan time, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 (USGC) has occurred. Its epicenter is about 15 km southwest of the Haitian capital Port au Prince.
According to the Haitian government, the death toll is expected to rise to 200,000, and it is reported that 70,000 of them were already buried.

At the capital Port au Prince, more than 4000 buildings were destroyed, and lifelines such as water supply, electricity and gas supply are entirely damaged.

Moreover, food and medical supplies are running short, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti engaged in peacekeeping operations in the country was also effected, and looting and security are emerging new issues.

On 19 January Japan time, JEN has dispatched three French-speaking international staffs fluent with emergency assistance, and have begun preliminary research.

JEN's Assistance Program Policy

Through our preliminary needs assessment, it was found that the affected people of Haiti are now living in spontaneous camps set up in open spaces like squares and soccer fields out of fear for another earthquake and the resulting destruction of their homes.  We have concluded that accommodation is an important issue now in Haiti. Moreover, the Haitian people were already lacking building materials from before the earthquake, and are forced to live in temporary shelter made with wood blocks and leaves. We have decided to distribute shelter-building materials to construct small huts.

Distributed shelter-building materials

On February 4th 2010 (February 5th Japan time) in Grand Goave, city located about 50km West of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, JEN distributed shelter-building materials to 700 households. (Materials include 10 corrugated iron sheets, 1 hammer, 1 saw, 1 pair of gloves, and 1kg of nails, per one kit) About 60% of the buildings are destroyed in the area, and securing of accommodation is in urgent need before the hurricane season hits the country. JEN is also conducing needs assessment for our next project, in line with the current distribution.

Current activities