UN RESPONDS TO NEEDS IN FLOOD-STRICKEN HAITI

 

NEW YORK, 22 September (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The first part of a 7-member United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team arrives in flood-stricken Haiti today.  The second part of the team arrives tomorrow.  The team will support the Government of Haiti in their response to the emergency and will work with international aid agencies to make certain that critical needs are met as efficiently as possible.

The situation in Gonaives remains dire.  The Haitian Directorate of Civil Protection (DCP) estimates the total number of dead currently at 691 for the northern region and the number of missing at some 1,050.  The city of Gonaives is still without electricity and the threat of looting remains high.  Living conditions in the 20 shelters for people displaced by the floods are reportedly poor.

United Nations agencies and their non-governmental organization partners are stepping up their response to the crisis, which now affects as many as 175,000 Haitians.  The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will send a team of 30 psychosocial workers who will begin their work with the population already in temporary shelters today.  UNICEF has already delivered a number of maternal health kits for distribution.  The World Health Organization (WHO) will send an evaluation team tomorrow to examine the issue of cold chain for vaccines and will take tetanus vaccines with them.

One of the most urgent needs is for clean drinking water.  UNICEF is ready to provide 100,000 doses of water purification tablets.  The non-governmental organization CARE has 100,000 half-litre sachets of water ready for distribution.  Several 3,000 gallon water lorries have been mobilized by various organizations, which should be in action tomorrow.  The Ministry of Public Works has already mobilized two water lorries and two additional lorries should be available tomorrow.  Oxfam and other non-governmental organizations are looking at other potential water sources near to Gonaives but outside the affected area.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHANY, tel.:  917 367 5126, mobile:  917 892 1679; Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, tel.:  41 22 917 2653, mobile:  41(0) 79 473 4570.

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