Earthquakes in Haiti: the vulnerability of citizens must be a priority for the authorities

The report opens on the anniversary and on a count. The magnitude 7.3 earthquake of 12 January 2010 killed at least 222,517 people and left 300,000 missing, and thousands more were left with a physical disability. The magnitude 5.9 earthquake of 6 October 2018 killed fifteen people in the communal section of Lapointe at Port-de-Paix in the Nord-Ouest and at Gros-Morne in the Artibonite. The earthquake of 14 August 2021 devastated the Nippes, the Sud and the Grand'Anse.

The network then works through the situation in the Ouest, in the Nord-Ouest and the Artibonite, in the Sud, in the Nippes and in the Grand'Anse, and then examines what the state did during each disaster. Its conclusion is that it is no longer enough for the authorities to say the country is better prepared: they have to be present to accompany victims, to coordinate humanitarian interventions, and to put in place channels of communication that victims can actually use, so that those interventions can be monitored and human rights violations avoided. Armed groups operating in shelter camps and relocation sites have driven many families into exile.