•  united nations
• Thursday, April 21, 2011
• Inter Press Service

One month ahead of Michel Martelly’s new government taking office May 14 in Haiti, the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC) together with the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) presented a new earthquake risk reduction plan for Haiti’s reconstruction.

UNDP seismologist Eric Calais stressed to reporters here the importance of the new seismic zoning maps he - along with his team of 10 experts - established. These maps identify the soil likely to shake in Port-au-Prince, he said.

Now, thanks to these maps, the reconstruction will be earthquake-resilient. 'One cannot predict when or where these events will happen, [but] one can determine how large they can be and can put in place mitigation measures, so that the devastation caused by the future events will be as small as possible,' Calais said.

'First of all,' Calais told IPS, 'we have to make sure that these maps are used.' Though scientists were aware an earthquake would happen in Haiti, few mitigation measures had been taken.

The IHRC has to coordinate consultations between the incumbent and incoming governments to ensure the fulfillment of the earthquake risk reduction plan, Harvey Dupiton, Secretary General of the U.N. Association Haiti, told IPS.

Haiti’s Minister of Interior and Local Authorities Paul Antoine Bien-Aime commended the plan and asked for it to be 'systematically implemented from now onwards to be able to make a meaningful impact'. 'Sadly it often takes a disaster to make measured technical strides,' Calais said.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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