Haiti Earthquake PDNA: Assessment of damage, losses, general and sectoral needs

The earthquake on January 12, 2010 has caused an unprecedented situation in Haiti with enormous repercussions affecting all sectors of society, well beyond the areas directly affected by the catastrophe. Over 200,000 lives were lost. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been left homeless and have fled the affected area to find refuge in the provinces, adding to an economic situation which was already difficult in these regions. In order to respond to a catastrophe of this scale, this assessment has been designed to go further than traditional post-disaster assessments. The objective has been to lay the foundations for a fresh start in the country's development efforts, as well as to reconstruct the damaged areas and contribute to a long term national strategic development plan, in order to begin rebuilding Haiti.

In addition to the damage and loss assessment which usually constitutes the central part of this type of assessment, an analysis of short-term rehabilitation needs and an analysis of the needs to rebuild the country have led to costed assessments for eight essential themed sectors: governance, the environment, disaster risk management, social sectors, infrastructure-related sectors, the production sector, a macroeconomic analysis, and cross-cutting sectors (youth, gender, vulnerable persons, employment). The government led each of these themed teams, which had the responsibility of collecting and collating information on damage, losses, the impact of the earthquake on human development, and post-disaster needs for reconstructing and rebuilding the country.