Empowerment Model for Sustainable Residential Reconstruction in Léogâne, Haiti, after the January 2010 Earthquake

Abstract

It is estimated that more than 300,000 people were killed in the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, hundreds of thousands more were injured, and approximately 1.3 million people were left homeless due to the failure of the building stock. This level of devastation can largely be attributed to political and economic issues including struggles with education, government oversight of civil works, and general lack of resources that historically prohibited the establishment of reliable civil infrastructure. Any reconstruction effort needs to understand the significant constraints these conditions create in order to provide truly empowering solutions that build genuine local capacity. This paper reviews our experiences during trips to Léogâne, Haiti, and the formulation of an empowerment model that evaluates the resiliency, feasibility, sustainability, and viability of potential solutions to reconstruction of urban housing. We discuss the results of an assessment of common construction systems in Haiti and present an alternate housing system compliant with the empowerment model to serve low-income displaced populations in Léogâne.