Swiss emergency relief in Haiti

In autumn 2016 Hurricane Matthew swept through the Caribbean, leaving a trail of destruction in Haiti.  Switzerland was one of the first countries to deliver vital aid on the ground. 

On 4 October 2016, Hurricane Matthew battered southwestern Haiti with winds of over 250 kilometres an hour. It claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people and caused large-scale damage. As with the 2010 earthquake, almost 90% of homes in the affected region were destroyed. Rainfall also resulted in torrential flooding and landslides. 

On 7 October, shortly after the airport in Port-au-Prince re-opened, the SDC sent in a response team from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) to deliver life-saving emergency aid to the population. 

The aid operation focused on providing access to drinking water and emergency accommodation. Within a very short time, the response team provided water treatment facilities and drinking water tanks for a total of 46,000 people. It also distributed plastic sheets and tin roofs to provide temporary accommodation to 11,000 homeless families. As part of the SDC’s Cash for Work programme more than 2,000 Haitians received an income for helping with the clean-up operation. 

The cost of the Swiss relief operation amounted to CHF 3.6 million, of which half was spent on contributions to the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Swiss Interchurch Aid Organisation (HEKS). 

The SDC’s work in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 2010 also proved to be effective. All the school buildings that were built by Swiss experts at the time withstood the hurricane.