Development and Use of a Comprehensive Humanitarian Assessment Tool in Post-earthquake Haiti

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Author(s)
Zissman, M.A. et al.
Publication language
English
Pages
11pp
Date published
01 Jan 2014
Publisher
ScienceDirect
Type
Tools, guidelines and methodologies
Keywords
Coordination, Earthquakes, Response and recovery
Countries
Haiti

This paper describes a comprehensive humanitarian assessment tool designed and used following the January 2010 Haiti earthquake. The tool was developed under Joint Task Force – Haiti coordination using indicators of humanitarian needs to support decision making by the United States Government, agencies of the United Nations, and various non-governmental organizations. A set of questions and data collection methodology were developed by a collaborative process involving a broad segment of the Haiti humanitarian relief community and used to conduct surveys in internally displaced person settlements and surrounding communities for a four-month period starting on 15 March 2010. Key considerations in the development of the assessment tool and data collection methodology, representative analysis results, and observations from the operational use of the tool for decision making are reported. The paper concludes with lessons learned and recommendations for design and use of similar tools in the future.