The Journal of Haitian Studies , Volume 18 No. 1 © 2012 Unintended Consequences: The Technology of Indicators in Post-Earthquake Haiti Margaret L. Satterthwaite & P. Scott Moses New York University School of Law & University of Maryland, College Park Introduction: Sustained Displacement As of February 2012, more than two years following the devastatin earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, the populati of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps had finally dropp below 500, 000.1 While this is certainly a significant development, especially considering the nearly 2.3 million Haitians who were initially displac following the earthquake, uncertainty lies ahead for those individ and families who remain more or less trapped in the camps.2 Insuffici available rental properties, compounded by lack of economic opportuni and persistent poverty, mean that those IDPs living in the camps gener have nowhere else to go, and little means to stay somewhere else were t able to leave. These observations do not negate the humanitarian effo which, since the minutes and hours following the earthquake, has be impressive in scope. In the first six months, 1.5 million people received som form of shelter, 4.3 million people were given food, and 1 million peo were provided access to potable water on a daily basis.3 As of July 20 some 73,000 transitional shelters had been constructed, and humanitar partners had distributed more than a million tarpaulins and 2.5 milli relief items.4 From July 2010 to July 2011, the IDP population living camps dropped 61 percent, leaving an estimated 594,811 individuals liv in 894 camps.5 While the IDP population continues to slowly decrease, the situatio in the camps remains precarious, if not increasingly so. Most notably the cholera epidemic that began in October 2010 - less than a y after the earthquake - has infected nearly five percent of the populat and killed more than 7,000 people.6 As ofjanuary 2012 there had b 526,000 reported cases of cholera across the country.7 IDP camps wer This content downloaded from 128.122.93.178 on Fri, 14 Feb 2020 19:51:21 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms