HAITI: HURRICANE MATTHEW DASHBOARD

Wednesday 12 April 2017
OVERVIEW

Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti on 4 October 2016 and was the most powerful hurricane to strike the country in over 50 years. The hurricane delivered devastating blows to the impoverished communities in the South-western Tiburon Peninsula and left 1.4 million Haitians including 592,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance. Approximately 175,500 have been displaced due to the hurricane, residing in temporary poorly structured shelters. Many families have had little financial resources to be able to afford building materials that will give them the opportunity to build back better.

 

IMPACT ON CHILDREN

Children are particularly vulnerable following the hurricane and facing higher protection risks. Poor shelter structures are putting vulnerable children at risk of exploitation and abuse. Approximately 1.25 million including 500,000 children are in urgent need of safe water and adequate sanitation which is further increasing the risk of water-borne diseases, including cholera.

 

Education has also been severely disrupted in Grand’Anse and Sud, 150,000 children are out of school and 58% of collective centres are using schools for accommodating displaced people.

 

URGENT ASKS

•Urgent assistance is required to reduce the long-lasting impact of the disaster on the lives of vulnerable children, women and their families,learning the lessons from the earthquake response.
•Immediate action must be taken to ensure access to education for 150,000 children out of school. Sufficient funding is required to support Ministry of Education to fully resume education in the worst affected areas and provide back to school programmes.
•Child protection must be prioritized in the immediate and long term process by strengthening the State and community capacities to prevent and respond to child protection concerns.   

•Gender sensitive measures must be carried out to address the specific needs of vulnerable women and girls particularly given that 44% of Haitian families are female headed households and majority of them living in acute poverty.

 

OUR RESPONSE

Save the Children provides immediate relief and longer-term recovery support to the affected population in the two of the hardest hit regions, Sud and Grand’Anse. We ensure the most vulnerable children and families affected by Hurricane Mathew are able to survive the emergency, to remain in their communities through access and use of essential shelter, WASH, health, nutrition and education services, and are protected from elevated risks of exploitation, abuse, neglect and violence.  So far we have reached 98,561  people and 57,798  children through our response.

•We provide support in seven health facilities and have carried out over 8,472 consultations so far. 110 health workers have also been trained.
•1719 mothers withchildren under 2 have been given breastfeeding counselling. 6267 children have also been screened for malnutrition,
•We run 30 child friendly spaces reaching in total 6,005 children. We also support with identification, referral, and follow up of cases where children’s rights have been violated.
•We’ve provided school kits to 4,082 children in 20 schools and have provided materials for schools to repair the structural damage caused by the hurricane.
•4,909 families have received water and sanitation kits including basic hygiene items such as soap and menstrual hygiene.  We have also provided hygiene promotion sessions on awareness and prevention of diseases such as diarrhea and cholera.

•3694 shelter kits have been distributed with emergency shelter covers, ropes and orientation on how to secure the roofing