"This article compares two camps that emerged after the Haitian earthquake of 2010: Corail, a formal camp helped by humanitarian apparatus, and Canaan, the neighboring informal camp. After outlining the general framework of daily precarity, this paper relates how, despite humanitarian aid, the residents of Corail became revolted. Then, the focus is put on the uncontrolled informality of Canaan, which is ignored by the NGOs and the Haitian government. The article deals with the issue of community, as it is found to be sometimes imposed by the camp-making process (and dysfunctional), and sometimes to be a social link allowing people to plan their life for a time beyond the temporary: the one of the encampment as a place to live."