IOM to Begin Distributing Emergency Relief to Haitian Earthquake Victims
With search and rescue efforts in Haiti continuing in a race
against the clock to find those still buried under the rubble from
Tuesday's massive earthquake, IOM is to distribute emergency relief
material from stocks already in the country.
The distributions, to begin jointly later today with the World
Food Programme, will consist of non-food items such as tarpaulins,
plastic sheeting, jerry cans, water containers and bladders, and
some shelter material.
IOM's chief of mission in Haiti, Vincent Houver, said the
Organization has enough stock in the country to assist an estimated
10,000 families, but a far greater level of support is needed.
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"What we need is tents, tents and more tents. We need large
or individual tents, whatever is available, and financial support
quickly," he added.
IOM will be leading the coordination of emergency shelter and
non-food emergency relief aid among humanitarian actors responding
to the disaster and will appeal for funds through the UN's Flash
Appeal.
IOM and other humanitarian actors on the ground report the main
needs as emergency health, water and sanitation, shelter, food and
non-food items, logistics, rubble removal and
telecommunications.
To support IOM staff and operations on the ground, which include
seven sub-offices throughout the country, IOM is also deploying a
team of emergency experts.
Although all IOM international staff have been accounted for,
contact has still not been made with some national staff. The
Organization has a total of 89 staff in the country.
The Haitian capital was the worst hit by the earthquake which
registered 7.0 on the Richter scale off the Haitian coast some 17
kilometres from Port-au-Prince. An estimated one million people at
least are affected and large numbers of people believed to have
been killed, though with communications extremely difficult and the
city in chaos, the true scale of the damage is unknown.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the disaster has caused massive
loss of life, injuries, major damage to private homes, schools,
hospitals and other buildings and key infrastructure in the poorest
country in the Western Hemisphere.
Reports from some of the IOM sub-offices have filtered in with
staff in the town of St.Marc who visited a local hospital saying
that about 50 injured people had come in from Port-au-Prince for
treatment. Many people were also looking in the hospital for lost
family members. St.Marc was reported to have suffered minor damages
and no injuries.
IOM has been working in Haiti since 1994. On-going
programmes and projects cover activities such as humanitarian and
emergency response, rule of law, early recovery, security sector
reform and post-crisis community stabilization.
IOM Haiti is part of the UN Country Team and works closely with
UN partners on emergency response and early recovery. IOM is
also part of the national emergency response and works closely with
civil protection.
For more information, please contact:
Jean Philippe Chauzy
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 22 717 9361
E-mail:
"mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int
or
Jemini Pandya
Tel: +41 79 285 4366
+ 41 22 717 9486
+ 41 79 217 3374
E-mail:
"mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int
or
Niurka Pineiro
IOM Washington
Tel: +1 202 862 1826 ext 225
E-mail:
"mailto:npineiro@iom.int">npineiro@iom.int