ReliefWeb

Executive summary

About this study

This study analyses the extent to which legal frameworks in Haiti support national and local efforts towards disaster-risk reduction (DRR). The study covers a broad scope of law and regulation relevant to DRR for natural hazards, including issues such as the integration of DRR into disaster risk management laws and institutional arrangements, responsibility and liability for DRR, early warning systems, infrastructure, building codes, land use planning, environmental management, and awareness-raising and education. Its methodology of speaking with stakeholders at national, sub-national and local levels was also designed to identify gaps, challenges and good practices in the way the legal framework is implemented.

Background and risk profile

Due to its geographical position, Haiti is one of several states in the Greater Caribbean Region exposed to extreme weather conditions that place the country at risk of disaster. Haiti lies in the middle of the ‘hurricane belt’ of the region and generally suffers from storms between July and October of each year, and its placement over several major tectonic faults means that it stands at risk from seismic activity, namely earthquakes. No modern assessment of Haiti can be made without taking into account the devastating effects of the earthquake of 12 January 2010. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on that day resulted in the loss of some 230,000 lives and the displacement of approximately two million people. The earthquake compounded the already severe political, social and economic problems that the country was facing. Just prior to the earthquake of 2010, Haiti ranked 145th in the UN’s Human Development Index; in 2013 it ranked 168th.

The earthquake cost the equivalent of 120 per cent of Haiti’s GDP and set back decades of development of investments. Government capacity was dealt a huge blow as between 17 to 20 per cent of federal employees were killed or injured and about a quarter of official buildings were destroyed, with further damage or destruction affecting almost all major infrastructure in Haiti.

The impact of the earthquake of 2010 has however helped to bring the concepts of disaster-risk reduction (DRR) and disaster-risk management (DRM), as well as the actors involved in these areas, to much greater national prominence. The challenge Haiti now faces is to implement these concepts through an integrated multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral approach that moves beyond the narrow confines of preparation and response, and takes into account much longer-term development of state and local capacities to reduce disaster risk.

The need to ensure any such actions are sustainable and not dependent on external funding is another major issue that needs to be addressed.