David Vinuales shows how Oxfam is helping Haiti adapt to increasingly severe and more frequent hurricanes. 

Haiti is in one of the most vulnerable places on the hurricane “map”. Every year, tropical storms and hurricanes strike the country. Add to this danger the lethal mix of poverty, lack of infrastructure and deforestation, coupled with climate change, and you are in for trouble.

One example is the communication between Petite Riviére de Nippes and Anse-à-Veau. These two small Haitian communities have only one road crossing its river. Not a big problem for the low season, but a different situation when rains make the crossing by foot much more difficult (see right).

There is no single answer for this problem. It’s also impossible to solve these problems in a short time period. But some steps are needed to start fighting the high vulnerability. In Haiti’s Nippes department, some actions have been taken and others are due to start soon.

One of these actions was the cleaning of the channel drainage. Just over a year ago, I met Thomas. He was organising one of the groups in charge of cleaning a blocked channel. During last year’s hurricane season, he says the channels diverted the water and the community managed to reduce flooding of local homes.

The small community of Anse-à-Veau suffered floods in least some part of the village every year.

But with hard work from the community, the support of Oxfam and with European Union funds, locals were able to build this 250m wall that stopped the river coming into the city.

These are the kind of small actions helping the population not only to adapt to climate change but also to reduce the high vulnerability they face every hurricane season.

Learn more: Oxfam in Haiti

You can help: Donate to vulnerable communities in Haiti

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