A nationally representative economic survey five months after the
Haitian earthquake: Radical changes in household members and gender discrepancy
in employment retention
Affiliations: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA | U.S. Government Accountability Office, Washington, DC, USA | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA | Statistics without Borders
Note: [] Corresponding author: Ryung S. Kim, Department of Epidemiology
and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park
Ave, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. Tel.: +1 347 886 0027; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Five months after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Statistics without
Borders conducted a nationally representative sample survey to examine economic
impact using a random digit dial sample of mobile phone numbers. We analyzed
the anonymized survey data and the questionnaire that they made available for
public use. Radical changes in household members occurred among post-earthquake
Haitian households. Similar changes of household members that are caused by
natural disasters have been associated with long-term psychological well-being
in the literature. The survey also provides a rare look at gender
discrepancy in employment retention following a natural disaster from a
nationally representative survey. While the overall employment rate was down by
50% five months after the earthquake, our findings indicate that households
with female heads are at a significantly greater risk of losing employment.
