Haiti: aid following the earthquake
People in Switzerland donated 66 million francs. Here we explain how we used your donations.
© Florance Paul
The earthquake that struck Haiti on 12th January 2010 caused widespread destruction. Over 300,000 people were killed in the quake.
A third of the Haitian population – 3.2 million people – were affected by the natural disaster.
According to the government, more than 250,000 homes and 30,000 businesses were destroyed. The economy was ruined.
The disaster had a huge impact on this poor and fragile country, and continues to do so.
Your donation is being used for long-term benefit: 10 years after the earthquake occurred, 95% of all those surveyed still live in the houses that were set up for them following the quake - using your donations. Over 80% feel safe from further possible disasters in these homes.
Over the last ten years, your donations have been used to fund 91 projects for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. These projects were run by 21 different Swiss NGOs.
We used around 20% of the money donated to provide emergency aid immediately after the quake.
65% of the money went towards reconstruction projects, which lasted several years. 15% was used to prepare the local people to cope better with future natural disasters.
Ten years on, the aid projects for the people in Haiti have been successfully concluded.
Thanks to your donations, our partner NGOs have been able to repair or reconstruct 2,704 homes, conduct 27,500 medical consultations, construct 78 drinking water networks and plant 869,000 trees.
But that is not all. Under the individual support phases, you can find out how our partner NGOs have used your donations to deliver emergency aid, reconstruct buildings, promote the economy, and provide health services and disaster protection.
The aid organisations, most of which were already operating in Haiti when the earthquake occurred, were quick to provide emergency aid:
“We are delighted that the combination of emergency aid with reconstruction and development cooperation has clearly had a highly positive effect for the local people. As a result, Swiss Solidarity will in future invest more in this type of support so that aid is provided as efficiently and as sustainably as possible.”Roland Thomann, Director, Swiss Solidarity.
We do all we can to ensure that your donation has the best possible impact for the people in Haiti – but we also want to learn from all the experience gained in the projects.
So ten years after the earthquake, once the last few projects in Haiti were complete, we commissioned a study to look at how satisfied the people are with the support they received.
The renowned and independent consulting company Key Aid Consulting looked at project documentation and former evaluations in the period May to October 2019. A quantitative survey was conducted among 525 households and a qualitative analysis drawn up in group interviews.
In their study, the experts looked at how the projects funded by us using your donations have impacted the lives of the people affected by the terrible earthquake in 2010.
The impact of Swiss Solidarity’s reconstruction programme can still be felt today:
You will find a short overview of the results in this document:
You can read a summary of the impact analysis here:
“We ourselves are surprised that so many people still live in the houses built nearly 10 years ago, but the reasons why are actually clear: all of the houses are built of sustainable materials and most feel secure and protected from natural disasters in them.”Helene Juillard, co-founder of Key Aid Consulting.
We also commissioned independent experts to evaluate the success of the projects and the degree of satisfaction of those helped two and four years following the earthquake.
The primary focus in this case was to use the findings to better adapt the ongoing projects to the needs of the people in Haiti.
These studies can be found here:
Swiss Solidarity, 1211 Geneva 8
Your donation is tax deductible in Switzerland.
