Executive summary
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the south of haiti on January 12 th 2010 triggered the largest humanitarian response since the indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Hundreds of international agencies launched emergency responses, and local organisations, the Haitian diaspora, the private sector and many thousands of individuals also poured energy, money and time into finding ways to help.
The earthquake was unfortunately not the only serious emergency to strike Haiti in 2010. The outbreak of cholera in the town of St Marc on October 18 th 2010 brought a new, highly infectious and deadly disease to a country with weak sanitation and health systems, and no knowledge or understanding of this illness. The response of communication actors from the first hours was essential to the survival of potentially thousands of people, whose ability to recognise symptoms and take prompt action was literally the difference between life and death.
This paper attempts to capture some of the communication work implemented by a whole range of partners, and to identify what was delivered from the perspectives of those affected by these two major but very different emergencies. The purpose of this exercise is to inform the continuing response in haiti and to provide practical case studies and analysis of best practice models that may be useful elsewhere.
While much was done in Haiti, more remains to be done in this sector, both in Haiti and at global level. It is ironic that a disaster response conducted in a communication-rich urban environment should be widely criticised from the earliest days for being so disconnected from the local context. The richness and sophistication of some aspects of the local media response is another key observation from Haiti.
This generated models outside the framework of the international humanitarian response, and this study makes a particular effort to learn lessons from local responses.
The Demand for Communication
Both the earthquake and cholera responses make it clear that the demand for information from affected communities is huge, from the very earliest stages of an emergency. From the survivors queuing outside radio stations to the overwhelming response to projects that facilitated communication, it was clear that disaster-affected haitians regarded information as critical.
Communication Work is Possible and Important from the Earliest Stage of a Response
The local communication response to the earthquake began within minutes as survivors began using phones to find out if friends and family were alive or dead, to broadcast their location (especially those who were trapped) or to ask for help. driven by survivor demand, emergency broadcast by local radio, including ad hoc family reunification systems, were running within days.
While international agencies were slower to address information needs, the experience of media development organisation Internews and the World Food Programme (WFP) shows not only that effective communication work can be launched within days, but that it can have an impact on the effectiveness of operational delivery.
Listening and Communicating are Vital
Two of the most important findings of this report are closely connected: the importance of listening for international responders, and the importance of the process of communication for disaster survivors. While systems for sharing information, usually characterised by a one-to-many model aimed at distributing information, particularly ‘messages’, are understood and proliferating, models that facilitate genuine dialogue and facilitate listening to the perspectives and concerns of local populations are far rarer yet much more effective on multiple levels (including improving operational design and delivery, relationship building, delivering on accountability and transparency commitments and developing trust). agencies still see ‘communication’ as primarily the process of delivering or extracting information.
For survivors, by contrast, the process of communication often seems to matter as much as the information itself. the ability to communicate rather than just source information – to ask a question, share a story, discuss an issue – was often brought up by Haitians as vital. This was widely recognised by local radio stations, many of whom ran open mikes for days after the quake, allowing people to come in and talk on air about what happened. It is also clear in projects such as the international Federation of the red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) helpline in Annexe de la Mairie camp in Port au Prince, where callers surveyed by the organisation expressed far higher satisfaction levels with the call service than with the information received about IFRC’s shelter project.
Out of the organisations that addressed this question, those that implemented effective feedback/dialogue models found this a very positive experience. though concepts of feedback, including tools such as call centres and complaint mechanisms, generate a lot of trepidation, with local and international staff worrying about being overwhelmed with the volume of calls or having to deal with angry people, it was interesting to note that these fears were usually expressed by those who had no direct experience of such systems. Those who overcame concerns found they did not manifest in practice and those who implemented effective dialogue systems almost universally described them as one of the most important aspects of their work.