Measuring Partnership Efficacy in Haitian Disaster Recovery

On a peaceful Tuesday afternoon, fifty seconds of shaking resulted in the death of over 230,000 people, and left 1.5 million more homeless. On Tuesday, January 12 th , 2010, at 4:53 PM, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale struck just 10 miles from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, devastating an already fragile nation. With 80% of the country’s population living below the poverty line prior to the earthquake, the scale of response necessary afterward was massive. During a four-week data collection trip to Haiti, and follow-up interviews in the United States, 18 different agencies responding to the Haiti disaster were interviewed and 73 unique agency partnerships documented. Trends in resource flow, incompatible perspectives on partnership permanence, commitment level increases, and contact utilization provide a new perspective on how responding agencies can best leverage their resources in a disaster.