Earthquake Response for Cultural Heritage

Haiti

On 14 August 2021, a 7.2 Magnitude earthquake hit Tiburon Peninsula, in southern Haiti. The town of Les Cayes, with around 90 000 inhabitants, situated in less than 100 km from the epicentre, along with other towns at the Tiburon Peninsula, such as Jérémie and Beaumont, were badly affected by the earthquake. Included in the affected list of damages were multiple Voodoo temples, Catholic churches, and communal libraries. To respond to the breadth of the need at the time, the CCC-UniQ teams trained locals to provide first aid to cultural heritage, and together they undertook damage assessment missions, followed up by basic repairs and stabilization activities.

This project was supported by CER in collaboration with the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative of the Smithsonian Institution and the CHAP fund.