Exploring Emergency Communication Experiences in Response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake: Lessons Learned from International Donors and Local Government Agencies

In almost every disaster situation, the use of standardized communication procedures among humanitarian relief agencies has been identified as one of the efficient practices to minimize the mismanagement of resources and thus to maximize the response effort among actors to reduce the incidence impact on the public and to increase their resilience capabilities.

Agencies have access to several guidelines to follow during domestic disasters, but there have been very few manuals developed to guide relief organizations on best practices during international large and complex natural disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Haiti has experienced over its history several years of natural disasters, political, socioeconomic instability and recently has been devastated by one of the worst earthquakes that humanity has ever known.