Country situation overview (based on OCHA Humanitarian Bulletin 3 and information reported by ACT member organisations from their respective project sites):
Current emergency related figures indicate over 2 million people affected, 188,383 destroyed or damaged houses of which 66,667 have been assessed, 1.5 million people displaced, 1241 spontaneous settlement sites, and 4758 schools damaged or destroyed, representing 85 percent of schools in the affected areas.
As a first step and pilot project in a broader strategy for relocation processes in Port-au-Prince, people now living in Champs de Mars will be relocated to their homes in Fort National. The Government of Haiti, OCHA, clusters and NGOs have formed working groups to address the relocation process.
Emergency shelter distribution is still ongoing while transitional shelter and permanent shelter construction is slowly starting, mostly outside Port-au-Prince. As a number of organisations already have material for transitional shelters in-country, the lack of available land is the main issue preventing actual construction taking place.
Haiti has an average of one latrine per 190 users. Important challenges for creation of additional latrines include the fact that private land owners do not want latrines in their field and the lack of available space in urban camps. Moreover, removing sludge is an issue as there are too few trucks and capacities of the local municipalities are not sufficient. There is a huge need for sewage treatment of waste. At the moment, dump sites are being used.
The camps have limited availability of water. Even though there has not yet been outbreak of disease, many cases of skin problems have been reported which are directly linked to insufficient water to meet hygiene needs, the latter of which also undermines hygiene promotion efforts.