The Haitian Earthquake Five Years On — Children’s Psychological Scars Remain
Save The Children
January 8, 2015
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (Jan. 8, 2015) – Although the catastrophic physical damage to housing, roads and public buildings wrought by the Haitian earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010 is still visible, the psychological legacy that many young earthquake survivors are still struggling to live with is less easy to see with the naked eye.

Five years since the earthquake hit the tiny Caribbean island nation of Haiti, many children there still have limited access to education, and some report exposure to exploitation and sexual violence after the already-fragile country descended into chaos in the aftermath of the disaster. Many Haitian children still show signs of emotional and psychological stress, and remain in desperate need of assistance and protection today.

Their on-going distress, along with their hopes for a better future, is what Riccardo Venturi, World Press Photo award winner in 1997 and 2011, hoped to capture while visiting Save the Children relief programs in Haiti. Venturi’s resultant images are a humbling reminder to all involved in the rebuilding of Haiti that the international response to the disaster is far from complete.

Children who have lost one or both parents, are unaccompanied by a family member, or are still living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, are particularly at risk of exploitation, with sexual violence against minors in such settlements commonplace.

“I don’t feel safe here at all because people don’t respect each other. There are many cases of abuse,” said *Marie Darline, a 15-year-old girl who has been living in a sprawling Haitian IDP camp for four years.

She is one of more than 85,500 people still living in temporary accommodations following the earthquake, more than half of which are children…

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Haiti Earthquake: Five Years On – Results & Lessons Learned
Save the Children
January 2015 :: 22 pages
Excerpt: p.17

Lessons Learned and Perspectives
As we review the work of the past five years we once again thank our multiple donors, partners, and the government of Haiti. Our work would not be possible without your generosity and confidence in our ability to manage successful programming for Children. As we close this chapter on the five year commemoration of the 2010 earthquake we take a moment to express what we have learned:

:: At the outset of disaster, short-term measures to keep children safe, reunite families, improve institutional care and develop viable alternative care must be implemented immediately;

:: Prioritizing improved access to and the dependable delivery of quality primary health care, with an emphasis on maternal, infant and child health and nutrition and related hygiene and sanitation is an essential priority;

:: The international response must support the Ministry of Health and partners to restore and expand access to basic health care for women and children, as well as access to potable water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and facilities;

:: Expanding universal access to basic education must be an immediate goal of the government and development partners, particularly for the minority of children who still have not enrolled at the beginning of the school year;

:: Longer-term, substantial and sustained investments are needed to strengthen the education sector and enable the Ministry of Education to assume the leadership and oversight role required to achieve the constitutionally mandated goal of universal coverage at the primary level and the initiation of an Early Childhood Development component;

:: The transition from recovery to development must include strategies to include the beneficiaries, particularly children, in the design and implementation of the programs and activities that affect their future;

:: Over the long term, the government and development partners must invest the financial and technical resources in building a national system to protect children from abuse and trafficking, including activities in disaster risk reduction and resiliency.