Rapid Gender Analysis: Haiti 14 August 2021 Earthquake
Executive Summary
Haiti is prone to natural disasters of many kinds: cyclones, tropical storms, landslides, floods and earthquakes. In less than twelve years, two earthquakes have shaken the country, bringing enormous damage in human life and losses of all kinds. The country had yet to recover from the aftermath of the first 7.0-magnitude earthquake in 2010 when, on 14 August 2021 a second of magnitude 7.2 struck the south of the country where the majority of the affected municipal districts are remote and difficult to access. According to the Haiti Government, so far 2,248 deaths have been recorded with 12,763 people injured and 329 missing.
This disaster has added to the range of concerns faced by Haitian society at the height of a political crisis, following the death of the President of the Republic in July 2021 and in the midst of insecurity of all kinds including kidnapping. The country continues to be faced with COVID-19 which has led to 588 deaths out of a total of 21,124 cases, with the ongoing fear of the potential consequences of variants. This disaster, which has severely hit all sectors of activity in national life, also came at the height of the hurricane season and on the eve of the return to school. It has created a humanitarian situation that lessons drawn from previous crises may help to manage better.
It is against this particularly complex background that UN Women and CARE, in collaboration with the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women's Rights (MCFDF) and the General Directorate of Civil Protection (DGPC) launched a Rapid Gender Analysis, designed to evaluate the impact of the earthquake of August 2021 on women, men, girls and boys, including persons in a situation of vulnerability, in order to guide the current humanitarian response in Haiti in the short term, as well as recovery efforts in the medium and long term. This study has been produced in partnership with the Special Gender Taskforce of the humanitarian team in Haiti, and obtained financial, technical and logistical support from the following partners: Toya Foundation, IDEJEN, UNFPA, OCHA, PAHO/WHO, UNAIDS, WFP, UNDP and UNICEF.
This study makes it possible allows to take into account the views of women, men and young people in the three affected departments in devising adapted responses in line with gender-specific needs, considering situations of vulnerability related to gender, disability, age, and other socioeconomic conditions. This study also echoes the appeals launched by women’s organizations for a more gendersensitive response, and one which takes their leadership into account.