Haiti: facts and figures

The island of Haiti was hit by a catastrophic earthquake with a 7.0 magnitude on Tuesday 12 January 2010. Its epicentre was mere kilometres away from the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The earthquake’s depth was minimal, estimated at 13km below ground, rendering it all the more disastrous. Approximately 33 aftershocks ensued, 14 of which were between 5.0 and 5.9 in magnitude, according to the US Geological Survey. A second earthquake measuring 6.1 hit the already devasted Haiti today, as an estimated 20 000 people are already dying each day from lack of medical attention.

Some of the main challenges up ahead for international assistance are the management of a large number of bodies, which could lead to a major risk of epidemic, as well as an increasingly low supply of fuel notably preventing planes from being able to take off from the island and the need to strengthen police capacity due to a deteriorating security situation. Indeed, the UN has declared a Phase 3 Security Risk. Phase 3 is the third of five phases and calls for “relocation“. The other four are respectively named (1) “precautionary“, (2) ”restricted movement“, (4) “programme suspension” and (5) “evacuation“.

The EU has planned for 122 million euros in humanitarian assistance, which will be distributed via UN agencies, NGOs and the Red Cross. In terms of immediate humanitarian relief and mid to long-term development aid, the EU is to provide more than 422 million euros. Current European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Karel De Gucht, will be arriving in the Dominican Republic this Wednesday evening and making his way to Haiti Thursday 21 January in the morning. During his visit, De Gucht will determine how much immediate life-saving humanitarian aid is needed and assess the more long-term reconstruction and rehabilitation requirements. The latest available Haiti victim figures (Source: European Commission):


GLOBAL
Buried people ± 80 000
Extracted alive from the rubble by int. rescue teams 121
Government estimate of overall death toll ± 200 000
People in need of urgent assistance ± 250 000
Homeless ± 2 000 000
Total people affected in some way ± 3 000 000

EU NATIONALS
Europeans present (maximum estimate) 2 715
Europeans accounted for 1 421
Europeans unaccounted for (maximum estimate) 1 011
Europeans injured 9
Europeans dead 35
Evacuated 829


Emilie Melvin
Freedom of Thought