A Report from Major Ced Hills, Incident Command (Programme)
The work of The Salvation Army in Haiti in response to the earthquake of 12th January is proving to be historic for the International Emergency Services and for The Salvation Army. For the first time, the United Nations coordination group has requested that The Salvation Army Emergency team become the lead agency in managing a camp for Internally Displaced People.
The camp concerned is in the area of St. Martin in Port-Au-Prince, and accounts for more than 20,000 people, which is more than half of the total number of people made homeless in this area of Haiti according to statistics provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The camp comprises 2 areas - the soccer pitch and the adjacent Place de le Paix. These communities are regarded as one entity for the purposes of the current relief programme. The Place de la Paix is a hard standing, concrete floored area - the soccer pitch is grass. Registration of the families was undertaken using a team of 40 Haitian young people who were briefed and trained by Salvation Army emergency experts prior to being deployed in pairs to the camp. This same team are also being used as the labour force for distributions. It is recognised by the emergency team that the area comprising the camp is severely overcrowded, but as the families had already 'set up home' in this area immediately after the earthquake, it is believed to be in their best interests, not to insist on moving them to new camps at this time, in the hope that temporary shelters can be arranged for them some time in the next weeks and months.
Two other Non-Government Organisations are already working in the area with the Army; Concern Worldwide (CW) and Viva Rio (VR). Both were operating in a developmental way prior to the earthquake as were The Salvation Army personnel in Haiti, and it is believed that the 'local' community wish this support to continue. As soon as the Salvation Army were confirmed as the lead agency for the camp management, they met with both the other NGO groups who agreed to work with the Army and provide whatever services they could. Both NGOs are water and sanitation specialists and so, will install latrines and wash stand areas. In addition, Concern Worldwide have teams trained in hygiene promotion, nutritional targeting and therapeutic feeding. A positive partnership is now operating between the 3 groups and Damaris Frick of The Salvation Army International Emergency Services has established a weekly meeting of the three parties.
The role of the camp management is to register all those in the camp and ensure that all the services required to meet the needs of the community are in place and to act as interface between the community and other agencies. Advocacy is a large component of the role. Damaris Frick now has an office within the camp and meets each day with the camp executive committee. This group of 11 persons were chosen from the total committee of 75 people. It is believed that the Camp Management role currently being undertaken by The Salvation Army personnel could develop into an extended one as it may be many months before sufficient redevelopment has been undertaken in order to support a movement back to more permanent housing for those who have lost their property and belongings in Port-Au-Prince.
