The use of data in international humanitarian responses to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti

On 12 January 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, causing severe destruction in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. Individuals, organisations, and governments donated over US$6 billion of aid to Haiti. However, the international humanitarian response to the earthquake was characterised by western media as a logistical disaster. Years after the earthquake, hundreds of thousands of Haitians still inhabited “temporary” camps where they sought refuge after the earthquake, rather than returning to their neighbourhoods. Why did the international relief and recovery effort fail? This author argues that the international humanitarian community’s failure to collect, utilise, and share data led to shortcomings in aid delivery. Based on de Ville de Goyet’s hypothesis that supply and personnel distribution is largely driven by the discursive framework of the media rather than by evidenced need, I conducted an analysis of the American and Canadian media’s discourses following the earthquake. This study identified a strong correlation between media discourse and aid distribution, confirming that it is probable that donors and international humanitarian aid workers made decisions based on an understanding of the situation gleaned from western media. The international community’s fears of Haitian corruption, inefficiency, and poor governance meant that rather than supporting the Haitian government, the international community circumvented it. Implementing their own agendas without the input of Haitians, they infringed upon the sovereignty of the Haitian state