148 houses, a vocational training school and a commercial area are to be built in Haiti, as part of Qatar’s commitment to help reconstruction following the devastating earthquake which struck the Caribbean country in January 2010, killing 230,000 people and making more than a million homeless.

Qatar pledged $20 million towards reconstruction at the 2010 U.N. International Donors’ Conference “Towards a New Future for Haiti.”

This new announcement explains how some of that money is going to be spent.

“Qatar City,” as the new development will be called, is being funded with $5 million from the Qatar Haiti Fund, and $4 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID.)

The project will be built on 5.55 hectares of land in Cabaret, 14 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince. 

Each 35 square meter house will have two rooms, and will be built to resist hurricanes and earthquakes.

The houses will be allotted to deserving families through a selection process run by Haiti’s government and aid charities and NGOs.

Last year, Qatar announced some of its other projects in Haiti, including a $2 million grant towards a mobile health clinic,and $1 million for scholarships for students who can’t afford school.

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Credit: Quake damage in Delmas by James Emery