Photo gallery - Haiti earthquake One Year On

Overview

One year after the devastating January 12 earthquake shook their fragile lives, Haiti’s four million children are still reeling from the lingering impact of the disaster. More than 220,000 lives were lost, and countless families were separated, with 750,000 children directly affected.

Recovery efforts continue to face bottlenecks and barriers, many of them related to limited infrastructure and deep-seated poverty. Still, the UN Children’s Fund and partners have reached millions with vital services, and are laying the groundwork for long-term rebuilding. The relief and recovery efforts of Haitians and the international community have been extraordinary.

UNICEF was in Haiti before the earthquake, has been working tirelessly for hundreds of thousands of children every day this year, and will be in Haiti for as long as the children need help.

To find out more about UNICEF’s work for children in Haiti, and to donate, visit www.unicef.org.nz/Haiti

Photo Captions and Credits

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1 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0614/Noorani

“So many things have happened this year. First the earthquake, then the hurricane and now the cholera.” A young boy describes the extremely long and difficult year faced by children in Haiti.

In 12 terrible months, the country was struck by a devastating earthquake, ruthless storms, floods, a hurricane, and now a cholera outbreak.

As if this were not enough, Haiti is threatened by political instability and is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

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2 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0140/Noorani

Magalie’s 4-year-old son grimaces as a needle pierces his skin. Despite the pain, this needle has the potential to save his life.

UNICEF began giving life-saving vaccines immediately after the earthquake. UNICEF and partners have vaccinated two million children against preventable diseases such as polio, diphtheria, and measles. This is particularly important given that many Haitians lost their homes and now live in cramped tent camps, where disease can spread more easily.

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3 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-2646/Roger LeMoyne

Today, more than one million people – approximately 380,000 of whom are children – still live in crowded tent camps. Many are too scared to return to where they used to live, for fear of another earthquake occurring.

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4 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0032/LeMoyne

A young girl collects clean water from a tap. At the height of the emergency, UNICEF and its partners were using enough water trucks to line the Auckland Harbour Bridge more than 16 times!

Before the earthquake struck, Haiti had one of the world’s worst water and sanitation systems; only 19 per cent of people had access to basic sanitation facilities. UNICEF is working to ensure that all children in Haiti can drink clean water and not get sick because of unsanitary conditions.

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5 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1298/Marta Ramoneda

UNICEF has provided more than 11,300 latrines serving over 800,000 people. Every day, over 600 latrines are de-sludged as part of UNICEF’s ongoing efforts to maintain safe sanitation standards.

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6 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0750/LeMoyne

Gaelle, 12, lost more than her family home in the earthquake – her whole neighbourhood was destroyed, including her school.

But thanks to a UNICEF school tent, Gaelle and her friends are attending classes while a permanent school is being built – a hopeful sign that one day things will return to normal for these girls and boys.

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7 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1312/Ramoneda

Young students receive pencils, books and uniforms. UNICEF is providing 720,000 children with essential school supplies so that they can attend class – some for the first time.

Only half of Haiti’s children attended school before the earthquake, which exacerbated the terrible situation by damaging almost 4,000 schools.

UNICEF is working to ensure that all children can attend school. UNICEF has provided 1,600 tents to act as temporary classrooms and is training teachers and constructing schools. So far UNICEF has completed 47 semi-permanent schools, and is currently building another 70 schools. Many more will be built in 2011, all with earthquake- and hurricane-proof designs.

This progress has been made despite the huge challenges faced, such as rubble clearing and land tenure issues.

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8 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0032/LeMoyne

In a cramped tent city for families displaced by the earthquake, baby Sebastian brings a sparkle to his mother Lucienne’s eyes. “I am so happy that my baby is alive and well,” Lucienne says, giving credit for Sebastian’s good health to the nurses at the UNICEF baby tent.

At eight months, dribbling from cutting teeth and tipping the scales at a whopping 11 kg, Sebastian is alert, clambering over his mother and almost standing on his own. He is a well-nourished, breastfed baby.

Spared injury from the earthquake but unable to live in her destroyed house afterwards, Lucienne is surviving as best she can and visits the baby tent every day with Sebastian.

This is just one of 107 UNICEF baby tents, where babies like little Sebastian are fed and new mothers get the support they need.

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9 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0151/Shehzad Noorani

Lamonsia Laurent, 4 years old, holds a bar of soap that she received at a UNICEF-assisted orphanage. To stem the cholera outbreak which began in November, UNICEF has been distributing essential life-saving supplies such as 865,000 bars of soap. The water purification tablets provided by UNICEF and partners have provided enough clean water to fill 1,250 Olympic swimming pools.

Battling cholera is currently UNICEF’s single most pressing priority for child survival in Haiti, and 60 additional UNICEF staff flew into Haiti to help children.

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10 © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-2460/Marco Dormino

The volatile climate, the successive emergencies of 2010, and the poverty of Haiti are real challenges to recovery, and UNICEF is constantly adapting its humanitarian work in response to these trials.

UNICEF is working tirelessly to ‘Build Back Better’, and to build a Haiti fit for hundreds of thousands of children like this young boy.

ENDS

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