The United Nations now estimates that 3 million Haitians—a third of the population—were “badly affected” by the magnitude-7 earthquake that ravaged the island nation on Jan. 12. Providing shelter, sanitation and preventing cholera in Port-au-Prince are critical challenges, but so are food shortages in rural areas. An estimated 500,000 former residents of the badly damaged capital have migrated to the countryside.
“The particular complexity of an earthquake on this scale is that we need to embark on early recovery, even as we provide emergency relief,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Feb. 18, announcing that the U.N. and its aid partners have revised the amount of relief they seek for Haiti over the next year to $1.4 billion.