ReliefWeb

HIGHLIGHTS

On 3 and 4 October 2016, Category 4 Hurricane Matthew cut a path of destruction across the Republic of Haiti. Its devastating winds and heavy rainfall caused widespread damage in the southwest of the country. The most affected departments are Grande-Anse, Sud, Sud-Est and Nippes. The death toll in the country is rising to at least 546 and cholera is spreading.

A Flash Appeal was launched on 10 October to provide immediate support to 750 000 affected people for the next three months. Within this framework, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) requires USD 9 million to provide immediate crop, livestock and fisheries support to 300 000 hurricane-affected people.

PRE-HURRICANE CONTEXT

During the last three years, Haiti has been hit by severe climatic disturbances characterized by repeated episodes of drought followed by erratic rainfall. In 2015 and 2016, the impact of the El Niño phenomenon has worsened the already critical food security and nutrition situation. The prolonged drought has led to a reduction of more than 50 percent of crop production for the 2015 main cropping season (spring), resulting in the lowest annual agricultural output in a decade. The sharp drop in output resulted in prices of locally grown food commodities to rise significantly during the first half of the year, with some reaching record levels, increasing the dependency on food imports. As the Haitian currency - the Haitian gourde - has continued to lose value against the United States dollar, prices of imported food have also risen sharply in local markets.

Haiti is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the western hemisphere, with 59 percent of people living in poverty and close to 25 percent in extreme poverty. This situation is exacerbated by the limited or lack of access to electricity, clean water, proper sanitation and healthcare. The humanitarian context is complex due to multiple inter-linked risk factors, namely: political instability and insecurity, persistence of cholera, bi-national mixed migration crisis with the Dominican Republic, remaining caseloads of internally displaced people from the 2010 earthquake (around 60 000 people) and the country’s high vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change. Over the last two decades, the country has been repeatedly affected by severe natural disasters and emergencies, the most recent of which has been the persistent drought with major repercussions on the food security and nutrition in the country.