(A94) Information for Action? Analysis of Needs Assessment Reports Available on the Internet Following the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Abstract

On 12 January 2010, a powerful earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti. To help ensure outside assistance, information that describes and quantifies the severity of the disaster is needed urgently. Several studies have suggested that needs assessments are seldom performed, and that initial media images direct relief interventions rather than needs. This study sought to assess the extent of information on the situation that was available rapidly after the earthquake. The aim was to document and analyze information on severity and needs available on the Internet during the first week after the Haiti earthquake, and to compare the results with official severity data. Reliefweb is the most used information-sharing Internet portal following humanitarian disasters. All documents related to the Haiti earthquake published on Reliefweb during the first seven days after the earthquake were selected. Indicators that described the severity of the earthquake were searched for, including the number of affected and dead and the assumed needs of the population. Results were compiled and cross tabulated for frequency and compared with official outcome data. A total of 822 reports were posted. An estimate on the number of dead was available in 10% of the reports, ranging from 40,000 to 100,000. The most commonly reported number of affected was three million. The estimated numbers of dead and affected were similar to the official data. Not one posting described the method used for the estimates they provided. These results indicate that the severity of the earthquake was relatively well documented after four days. However, a striking finding was the lack of description of how the data had been collected. It remains difficult to determine the reliability of needs estimates, as they were done and posted by the relief organizations themselves. No independent attempt to estimate the needs was found.