Real-time evaluation of the response to the Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010

Objectives: 

To review, in as factual and neutral a way as possible, the national and international actors and bodies involved in the response to the crisis.

2. To evaluate the level of coherence between needs and the emergency relief provided.
The evaluation included critical analysis of the relevance of the emergency relief delivered by civilian and military actors in relation to the needs of the affected population and the specific constraints of this operational context. The conclusions of this analysis will guide future decisions with regard to preparation and planning of French actors’ response to crises at the national level and in relation to multilateral issues.

3. To speak to beneficiaries and to try to understand how they perceive the response, how
they judge the quality of the aid provided and the aid agencies, and how they perceive the future.

4. To analyse the response in terms of defence and security and identify lessons learned and know-how needed via the activities of the MINUSTAH, the US military deployment and  overlapping external military interventions.

The evaluation focuses on the following points:

- the constraints involved in the response;
- the initial situation and needs assessment;
- the sequence of events involved in the response to the earthquake;
- the impact of international relief on security.

These highlight improvements which need to be made to the inter-ministerial mechanism which is currently being put in place and recommendations are made for way of improving the way the response to crises is planned by the state.