Responding to a 7.2 Quake in Haiti

On Aug. 14, 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the area of Nippes, Haiti. Reports indicated it damaged or destroyed more than 129,000 homes. Even more tragic is that the death toll from the earthquake was more than 2,200, with more than 12,000 earthquake-related injuries.

It was another devastating event compounding the challenges in Haiti from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the July 7 presidential assassination, as well as numerous hurricanes and tropical storms.

When FAA representatives heard of this devastating disaster, they immediately jumped into action by aiding in aerial relief efforts to address potential impacts to regional air traffic operations.

“We used all communication options — from email to phone calls, to WhatsApp. Immediately after the earthquake, my manager, director and I were connected trying to figure out our coordination plan,” said Andrea Freeburg, FAA foreign affairs specialist for the Caribbean.

Freeburg and her team contacted the Haitian Office National de l’Aviation Civile (OFNAC), colleagues in U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of State U.S. Southern Command, the CANSO ATFM Data Exchange Network for the Americas, and the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The FAA has a strong relationship with Haiti and other Caribbean states due to their proximity to U.S.-controlled airspace and the high volume of daily operations that transit between the airspace regions managed by the United States and these neighbors.

The day of the earthquake, Freeburg reached out to the director general of the OFNAC and the air traffic manager of Haiti’s main airport, Toussaint Louverture International, to inquire about the country’s aviation needs for post-earthquake emergency response and initial recovery efforts. Due to disruption in power and communications, and an overwhelming flood of inquiries, it took a few days for FAA International Affairs to establish direct contact with the OFNAC.

On the Thursday after the earthquake, Freeburg received a phone call from Philippe Riche, the air traffic services manager at OFNAC. Riche confirmed that all OFNAC staff were accounted for and they were continuing to provide air navigation services within Haiti.

Upon receiving an official request for assistance from OFNAC, the FAA quickly assembled its air traffic, airports, aviation security, foreign affairs, and policy experts. Their goal was to develop a plan to help manage the flow of air traffic into Toussaint Louverture, in Port-au-Prince, to facilitate recovery and humanitarian operations.

With Haitian emergency resources focusing on their citizens, the FAA’s task was urgent. It was critical for the agency to quickly help establish new air traffic procedures to meter the incoming flow of humanitarian assistance flights so they wouldn’t overwhelm the airport’s reduced capacity.

The FAA’s response was different from the response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

“In 2010, our assistance was very focused, helping the Haitians recover from substantial disruptions to their air navigation services and on the dire challenge of the Port-au-Prince airport being overwhelmed with all of the international relief flights,” said Robert Sweet, the manager responsible for coordinating response efforts.

“This time around, the Haitian Air Navigation Services remained intact after the earthquake, but the Haitians still needed some help to regulate the relief flights in such a way that they could continue the regular commercial operations, which are vital to both Haitian economy and the transport of their people and goods.”

To accomplish this, the FAA leveraged its partnership with the U.S. Southern Command, as well as the agency’s world-leading expertise in airspace management and air traffic flow programs and procedures. This enabled the rapid establishment of the Haiti Flight Operations Coordination Center, or HFOCC, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The HFOCC manages the flow and frequency of fixed-wing aircraft flying into Haiti’s largest airport in Port-au-Prince. From there, relief supplies and personnel were transferred to other smaller aircraft, boats, or ground vehicles for delivery to the most affected areas.

The HFOCC was responsible for managing a procedure that required aircraft to coordinate ahead of time for a specific “slot time” for landing at Port-au-Prince. The FAA helped operationalize the HFOCC on Aug. 21 with the publication of an FAA Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) advising operators of the special procedures.

Sweet said lessons learned from working the 2010 earthquake helped greatly in coordinating with both U.S. and Haitian officials.

“Immediately synchronizing with the Southern Command was the biggest takeaway,” he said. “In 2010, we spent the first seven days discussing with them what they could and could not do in the situation. This time, we both agreed it was imperative to listen to and work with the Haitians on what they needed, what their parameters and regulations were before doing something in their airspace, with their airports and with their air traffic.”

The FAA established twice-daily operational teleconferences with OFNAC and the U.S. Southern Command to effectively coordinate slot assignments in real time based on airport ground handling capacity, and deal with pop-up flights that had not been previously scheduled and slotted.

The FAA also regularly provided updates to affected international operators through the Joint Air Traffic Operations Command and direct coordination. In addition, the FAA spearheaded a regional effort through the Caribbean Aviation Resilience and Recovery Group, or CARRG, to supply flight strip holders necessary for air traffic control to accommodate the additional volume of humanitarian flights in Haiti.

“I am very proud of the work we did to help Haiti during a very difficult time,” said Freeburg. “It’s a great example of the leadership and assistance that the FAA provides day in and day out. This is the reason we do the job. This is why we’re here — to be able to have an impact in that kind of way.”