key pillar: public health
Safe Water + Flood Prevention
Each year during the rainy season families' lives and livelihoods are at risk due to flooding.
Each year during the rainy season families' lives and livelihoods are at risk due to flooding. This is especially true for the 4,000+ people living near the river in the Northern town of La Pointe Haiti, also known as the city by the sea.
Most of the population lives in makeshift houses created with broken pieces of lumber and tin placed together to create shelter atop a dirt floor. When it rains the homes become flooded, muddy, and unsanitary. It can be especially dangerous for small children who are at risk of being swept away into the river.
Education and jobs also come to a halt during flooding with the washing away of dirt roads creating an inability to travel.
Eroding soil is also detrimental to local farmers as well as crop loss, cross contamination, and the spread of invasive species.
The river that flows through the town of La Pointe has caused these issues for years, but there is finally an answer waiting to be put into place. With the help of local leaders, engineers, and experts a plan has been created to implement flood prevention and improve the lives of many.
Engineering Plan:
First step is to clean and dredge the river
Second step is slope preparation to prevent future erosion
Thirdly the team will pour concrete to reinforce the river channel
Finally is Installation of gabion baskets
Why this matters:
The lives of tens of thousands of people will be improved
Hundreds of families will have their homes protected from floods
Children will no longer have their education interrupted by flooding
Decrease in the spread of cholera and other diseases
