Exploring unintended social side effects of tent distribution practices in post-earthquake Haiti

Abstract

The January 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti’s social, economic and health infrastructure, leaving 2 million persons—one-fifth of Haiti’s population—homeless. Internally displaced persons relocated to camps, where human rights remain compromised due to increased poverty, reduced security, and limited access to sanitation and clean water. This article draws on findings from 3 focus groups conducted with internally displaced young women and 3 focus groups with internally displaced young men (aged 18–24) in Leogane, Haiti to explore post-earthquake tent distribution practices. Focus group findings highlighted that community members were not engaged in developing tent distribution strategies. Practices that distributed tents to both children and parents, and linked food and tent distribution, inadvertently contributed to “chaos”, vulnerability to violence and family network breakdown. Moving forward we recommend tent distribution strategies in disaster contexts engage with community members, separate food and tent distribution, and support agency and strategies of self-protection among displaced persons.