CHF International Reaches New Milestones in Haiti Rebuilding Efforts

Six Months After Devastating Earthquake, CHF International Intensifies Focus on Shelter Construction and Rubble Removal

Over 1,500 Shelters Built to Date

Over 150,000 Cubic Meters of Debris Removed - Equal to Two Football Fields Covered Seven Stories High in Rubble

Over 11,000 Haitians Employed in Cash for Work Programs

SILVER SPRING, Md., July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Monday marks the six month commemoration of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing over 230,000 people. CHF International (CHF), the Silver Spring, MD-based international development and humanitarian assistance organization with operations in more than 25 countries, today announced a series of new milestones in its redevelopment efforts in Haiti.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100709/DC32697)

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100709/DC32697)

As of July 2, CHF has completed 1,527 transitional shelters in Port-au-Prince, Leogane and Cabaret, delivering housing to more than 7,600 Haitians.  Most shelters are designed for the average Haitian family size of five. Through funding from USAID/OFDA, as well as support from corporations and the public, CHF is building an average of 200 shelters per week and plans to meet its goal of 6,000 shelters by October, which will offer safe housing to 30,000 people affected by the earthquake.

"CHF's commitment to the places it works goes far beyond a response to immediate needs, to genuine redevelopment and long-term sustainable thinking," noted Gregory Beck, Director of Humanitarian Assistance at CHF International.  "When the needs in Haiti disappear from the front pages and the headlines as they have started to already, this country will still need help, and CHF is still there to provide it and to partner with the communities to help them direct their lives and livelihoods."

CHF has been an innovator in transitional shelter development since Hurricane Mitch in 1998.  They have developed shelters for use in the aftermath of natural disasters in Peru and Indonesia, for example, and for displaced people in Colombia. The scale of the disaster in Haiti has presented new challenges, and CHF has brought all of its experience to bear in putting together an innovative series of shelter solutions.  

"CHF International has been an important partner in establishing transitional shelter and emergency shelter for people in Haiti," USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah stated at the Helping Shelter Haiti launch earlier this year.  "I had the opportunity to visit a CHF program that provided jobs to Haitians... to start clearing rubble, clearing roads, and rebuilding their communities.  The opportunity to witness that first hand is really amazing." (http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2010/sp100312.html)

CHF's timber frame shelters are designed to withstand storms, rain, and earthquakes, and are designed to last three to four years, though in some cases have been used far longer.  CHF uses imported wood, recycled local steel roofs, and special plastic to insulate and protect the inhabitants, as well as mosquito shielded ventilation.  Each shelter costs around $1,000 to construct.

In addition to CHF's timber frame shelters, CHF has for the first time begun using light gauge steel shelters, primarily in Leogane, which are of similar cost. Steel shelters have a life span of 30-40 years and can become the core structure of a brick, plastic or concrete home.  CHF's steel shelters are hurricane and earthquake resistant, portable, and durable.

CHF has been able to build so many shelters because they have focused not on building camps, but on returning Haitians to their original communities and maintaining community cohesion. CHF demolishes damaged homes and builds shelters in their place. By keeping communities together, crime and violence are reduced and people are able to continue the job they had before. This is at the core of CHF's vision of community-based development.

Outside of shelter development, CHF is employing Cash for Work teams comprised of Haitians to help demolish damaged structures and clear rubble from key roads, canals, public buildings, and schools. By July 2, CHF had removed 153,650 cubic meters of debris from nearly 300 sites of major roads, canals, and public buildings. This volume equates to two football fields stacked seven stories high in rubble.  Since the earthquake, CHF has employed over 11,000 Haitians in rubble removal, for about 20 days each.

Since 2006, CHF's team has been undertaking the largest USAID-funded infrastructure rehabilitation and job creation programs in Haiti, and has focused many of its efforts on repairing vital infrastructure damaged in the 2008 tropical storm season.  

ABOUT CHF INTERNATIONAL

CHF International is an international development organization founded in 1952 that works in post-conflict, unstable and developing countries. We partner with communities around the world to help them to improve and direct their lives and livelihoods. We believe that the people best suited to decide what a community needs are the people of the community itself. CHF is a politically neutral, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, visit www.chfinternational.org.

SOURCE CHF International