Humanitarian Action - Haiti Earthquake Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Humanitarian Action - Haiti Earthquake - Essay Example Usually we associate disaster as a crisis inflicted by nature but human-made disasters are not less likely to represent similar amount of suffering for humanity. One of such disasters is war and conflicts that brings up the crisis of internally displaced people or IDPs. By June 2008, more than 2.8 million people were internally displaced in Iraq. Most of them are spread in rented accommodations and depend on host communities, governmental bodies, or some national and international humanitarian agencies. This population was displaced in three phases, approximately 1.6 million fled sectarian violence in 2006,an estimated 190,000 displaced by military operation and violence in 2003 to 2005, and around 1.2 million displaced as a consequence of the policies of Saddam’s government and Gulf War. In addition to this, according to UNHCR 1.7 million Iraqi refugees are abroad and only 300,000 of them are registered (Iraq 2010 Humanitarian Action Plan [HAP], 2009) This situation is not created at once but emerged from a legacy of sanctions, violence, conflict, lack of development and public service. These factors led to the scarcity of basic human needs, for instance, water, food, shelter, security, and access to health care and education. Since there has been no major humanitarian or security crisis in 2009, some improvement in IDPs returning to their home can be noticed but there is no change in vulnerable areas, for instance, northern and north-western Iraq, central Iraq and areas of southern Iraq.