CHF-Haiti Update - June 7, 2010: CHF using man and machine to clean up rubble in Leogane

CHF is one of only a handful of organizations in Haiti linking heavy machinery and cash-for-work labor to remove rubble from zones devastated by the January 12 earthquake. And in no other place is it as obvious as in the town of Leogane, close to the quake's epicenter, where CHF has been working since March.

The synergy of brute machine force followed by more precise cash-for-work follow up is a model that CHF believes is appropriate for the situation facing Haiti, and especially a community like Leogane, where the United Nations estimates that up to 90% of downtown buildings were critically damaged. Use of machines facilitates quicker removal of rubble to permit reconstruction and resettlement of destroyed areas, while use of cash-for-work ensures that community members are engaged in the process and can benefit financially - a critical initiative in communities where businesses were crippled by the earthquake.

Through its combined machinery/cash-for-work rubble removal efforts in Leogane, CHF has already removed more than 46,000 cubic meters of rubble from homes, schools, businesses, and other ruined buildings.

CHF will continue its USAID-funded CLEARS rubble removal efforts in Leogane through the end of Summer 2010.

Heavy machinery operated by CHF cleans up the remains of a private home along the Grand Rue in downtown Leogane.

CHF cash-for-work teams clean up rubble in what was formerly a private home near the Hopital Sainte Croix in downtown Leogane.

A heavy machinery operator rests his excavator after a long morning of work while CHF cash-for-work teams clean up rubble from the building he demolished. CHF is one of only a handful of organizations linking heavy machinery and cash-for-work labor to remove rubble from zones devastated by the January 12 earthquake.

Read more about CHF's recovery activities in Haiti.