Post Earthquake Jacmel (Haiti) Report and EMMA
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
28<br />
Internal marketing system<br />
IDPs (Internally displaced persons)<br />
Overall Income<br />
Overall Expenditures<br />
grocery stores were damaged, at least two of<br />
which were leveled), <strong>and</strong> to bakeries.(several<br />
of the largest bakeries were put out of<br />
commission as well); rural storage facilities<br />
were also damaged, giving an advantage to<br />
those komèsan who were not hit especially<br />
hard.<br />
Physical blow to the internal marketing market<br />
chain were depòt. But market resilient;<br />
principal complaint was the decline in urban<br />
market dem<strong>and</strong>.<br />
Increased burden on household but also<br />
increased non-remunerated labor supply,<br />
increased income for taxi traffic, <strong>and</strong> increased<br />
sales of phone cards.<br />
Difficult to estimate—see main text<br />
Difficult to estimate—see main text<br />
7. Summary Interpretation of Crisis <strong>and</strong> Response<br />
This report could not be complete without inserting, somewhere, a summary of the overall<br />
impact of the earthquake <strong>and</strong> subsequent aid effort.<br />
The primary physical impact of January 12 th was the destruction of major sectors of the<br />
Port-au-Prince urban area where lives 30% of the <strong>Haiti</strong>an population, <strong>and</strong> where one finds 80%<br />
or more of all medical, education, <strong>and</strong> administrative infrastructure. In the Southeast the primary<br />
impact was the city of <strong>Jacmel</strong>. In both cases the tendency among decision makers <strong>and</strong> aid<br />
workers is to see these areas as indispensable mainstays of the regional <strong>and</strong> national economy,<br />
focal points of administrative functions, political <strong>and</strong> economic organization upon which the<br />
provincial majority depends. The destroyed National Palace became a symbol of the chaos <strong>and</strong><br />
suffering to come. In reality, the opposite may be the case. For the vast majority of <strong>Haiti</strong>ans, the<br />
police <strong>and</strong> military have most often acted as agents of repression; the government as<br />
impediments to commerce <strong>and</strong> development. The earthquake temporarily eliminated both.<br />
While swooning, a large fraction of formal sector--albeit less than 300,000 workers to<br />
begin with--was back to work within weeks of the earthquake. For example, at least some of the<br />
factories in SONAPI duty free zone—where 500 workers were killed in a single factory--were<br />
back in operation within one to two weeks of the earthquake. The same was true of most major<br />
bakeries, beverage <strong>and</strong> water bottling companies, grocery stores, <strong>and</strong> banks. In the informal<br />
urban sector welders, mechanics, electricians were once again clogging the rubble strewn streets<br />
of the central city within three weeks of the earthquake. The more robust internal marketing<br />
economy was arguably only dazed by the physical impact of the earthquake. Within two days of<br />
market women from the Southeast, goods perched on their heads, were walking out of the