Since the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the U.S. government has spent $1.1 billion in humanitarian relief assistance and an additional $406 million in recovery assistance.
At the New York donors’ conference on March 31, 2010, the U.S. government pledged an additional $1.15 billion for reconstruction and has spent $332 million of that assistance in the last year. In total, this is $2.656 billion towards relief, recovery and reconstruction after the tragic earthquake.
The $1.1 billion in humanitarian funding in the aftermath of the earthquake was provided to:
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Deploy seven “Search and Rescue” teams as part of an international rescue effort that saved more than 130 lives;
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Deploy 22,000 soldiers, sailors and Marines to deliver critical relief supplies and services in Haiti through June of 2010;
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Provide life-saving treatment, including 840 surgeries, for hundreds of the most critically injured trauma victims aboard the USNS Comfort, and treatment to over 31,000 patients in the U.S. government-erected field hospitals in and around Port-au-Prince;
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Fund international partners to provide food for 3.5 million people—the largest emergency urban food distribution in history;
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Fund international partners to provide basic shelter materials and water to over 1.3 million people;
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Install over 11,500 latrines, 25 water systems, and 59 kilometers of drainage canals in settlements of internally displaced persons (IDPs);
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Re-establish the Haitian Government’s medical supply chain and storage system and restock the inventories of 40 Port-au-Prince health facilities with 100,000 pounds of supplies;
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Support the immunization of 1 million Haitians;
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Provide nutritional care to 11,000 pregnant women and children;
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Build police kiosks in 26 camps for internally displaced persons (IDP) and provide night patrol equipment to police and training to 300 brigadiers to patrol IDP camps.
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Build and equip space for the President, the Prime Minister, the Parliament, the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Culture and Communications;
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Assist the Ministry of Finance to restore payroll operations to government workers within 2 weeks;
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Develop a daily radio show broadcast on 32 radio stations to disseminate information on relief efforts to all Haitians;
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Ignite the largest SMS-based fundraising campaign in history, raising $32 million in $10-SMS donations to the Red Cross.
With the $406 million in recovery funds, the U.S. government was able to:
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Employ more than 350,000 people (about half of whom are women) through short-term, cash-for-work jobs, injecting more than $19 million into the local economy;
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Clear 1.2 million cubic meters of rubble from Government of Haiti prioritized areas (by comparison, just 1 million cubic meters of rubble were cleared in Indonesia 2.5 years after Tsunami);
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Invest more than $63 million for the construction of 12,000 transitional shelters (more than half the total number built to date);
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Conduct habitability assessments of more than 380,000 buildings;
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Provide primary health care to 4.8 million Haitians; train 2,200 health care workers; provide antiretroviral treatment to 27,900 HIV positive individuals and prevention of mother-to-child transmission to 131,800 women; and support to 67,800 orphans and vulnerable children.
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Clear rubble from 65 school sites; construct 322 primary school classrooms; and distribute 144,900 textbooks to enable 80 percent of children to return to school;
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Increase 2010 agriculture production by 75 percent in the U.S. government-supported corridors by providing fertilizers, seeds, tools, technical assistance; repairing 95 kilometers of irrigation canals; building 40 km of farm-to-market roads; planting 1 million trees; and completing 50 flood mitigation projects;
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Support the capacity of the Haitian National Police (HNP) by providing equipment, uniforms, and food to the training academy in support of building a trained force of 14,000 police by 2012;
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Deploy 6 active Haitian-American NYPD officers to support the judicial police; fund 50 police officers and 5 corrections officers in MINUSTAH’s police unit; and increase HNP capacity to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence;
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Catalyze long-term economic growth and rebuild the Haitian public health system through the signing of three Memoranda of Understanding (MOU):
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Two MOUs between the U.S., the Government of Haiti, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the textile companies Sae-A and Hansoll to explore investments in two industrial parks benefitting from US trade preference laws and creating over 20,000 jobs.
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One MOU between the U.S., the Government of Haiti and the Government of France to build a new principal University hospital facility in Port-au-Prince;
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Open the Haiti Apparel Center to train 3,000 people per year to work in the garment industry;
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Partner with the Ministry of Commerce to launch the Commercial Registry, which has already reduced the number of days required to start a business from 195 to 105 days; and,
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Ensure Haitian leadership of the reconstruction process by working with the Government of Haiti and international partners to operationalize and staff the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC).
At the March 2010 Donors Conference, the U.S. government pledged an additional $1.15 billion in new money for reconstruction.
From the $1.15 billion pledge, so far, the U.S. has spent $332 million, including:
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$212 million in debt relief, provided to the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. This frees up money for the Government of Haiti to meet their highest and most urgent priorities
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$120 million to support the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) preferences for the construction and repair of houses benefitting 50,000 people; the removal of rubble in critical areas of Port-au-Prince; establishment of a partial credit guarantee fund to help small and medium sized businesses rebuild their infrastructure, rehire staff, and restock inventories; and provide education assistance.
From the remaining pledged funds, the U.S. government commits to:
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Make all new investments towards reconstruction consistent with the Action Plan for National Recovery and Development for Haiti, helping Haiti realize a stable and more prosperous future.
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Follow a comprehensive strategy drafted in partnership with the Government of Haiti and in coordination with other donors.
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Work through the IHRC and be consistent with the following U.S. strategic recovery investment categories:
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Infrastructure and Energy;
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Food and Economic Security;
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Health and Other Basic Services; and
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Governance and Rule of Law.
In a demonstration of the U.S. Government’s ongoing commitment to the people of Haiti, the U.S. has contributed to the cholera response led by the Government of Haiti’s Ministry of Health and Population.
To date, U.S. expertise and over $41 million in assistance has been provided since the onset of the cholera crisis in October 2010:
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Dedicating more than 200 personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and USAID.
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Providing medical supplies and services, including epidemiological and monitoring expertise; and supported cholera treatment facilities and information campaigns to increase public awareness of prevention and treatment of the disease.
