IOM Hands Over 160 Additional Transitional Shelter Units for Haiti's Displaced Families
IOM together with the Mayor of Croix des Bouquets handed over 160
additional transitional shelters (T-shelters) this week along with
essential non-food items to displaced families. To date IOM has
provided 300 T-shelters to families in the Croix des Bouquets
commune.
Finding long-term solutions for those living in camps after the
devastating earthquake ten months ago is of the highest priority.
Croix des Bouquets was among the areas surrounding the Haitian
capital that were severely affected by the January 2010 quake.
IOM's shelter programme is focused on providing 9,000 shelter
units to internally displaced people in nine earthquake affected
communes in Haiti, with at least 90 per cent of these shelters to
be completed by April 2011 and the remainder to be completed by
September 2011.
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Builds Children's Hospital Ward
So far, 1,000 T-shelters have been constructed and handed over
with 72 of these units given to medical institutions and the
remaining 928 to displaced families. Over 1,300 transitional
shelter units are currently at different stages of
construction.
The provision of transitional shelters to medical institutions
has been one of the most innovative aspects of IOM's shelter
programme. Patients who were being treated in tents were often
exposed to high daytime temperatures while the torrential summer
rains often left the tents soaked through. The tents have also been
extremely vulnerable to high winds since the hurricane season
began.
Working with hospital administrators, IOM has built four
transitional children's wards at l'Hôpital de
l'Université d'Etat d'Haiti (HUEH), Port-au-Prince's largest
tertiary referral hospital as well as six transitional shelters at
Mars and Klein Psychiatric Hospital. The pediatric building at HUEH
was severely damaged during the earthquake and until several weeks
ago, chronically ill children from across the country were still
being treated in tents in the driveway of the hospital.
Doctor Alix Lassègue, executive director of the HUEH,
expressed his satisfaction during the handover ceremony, noting
that completion of the wards was all the more important because of
the protection it offered patients during the hurricane season.
Meanwhile, assessments and discussions with municipalities are
still ongoing to select appropriate locations for erecting
permanent housing for the displaced. Designs for IOM permanent
shelters have already been approved by local municipalities.
"Due to the complexity of the housing situation, we cannot have
a one-size-fits-all solution in getting people out of spontaneous
settlements and into decent housing," said Luca Dall'Oglio, Chief
of Mission for IOM Haiti. "Without this approach, it's unlikely
that numbers of internally displaced people will decrease any time
soon. To allow us to carry out our work in helping the displaced
living in settlements, IOM urgently needs additional financial
resources."
Please see the following slideshow:
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"http://tinyurl.com/IOM-Hospital" target="_blank" title=
"">http://tinyurl.com/IOM-Hospital.
For more information contact:
Kennedy Chibvongodze
Shelter Programme IOM Haiti
Tel: +509 3681 3501 / 3701 9681
E-mail:
"mailto:kchibvongodz@iom.int">kchibvongodz@iom.int
Patrick Duigan
Health Programme Manager
Tel: +509 384 9915
E-mail:
"mailto:pduigan@iom.int">pduigan@iom.int
or
Leonard Doyle
Media and Communications Haiti
Tel: + 509 370 25066
E-mail:
"mailto:ldoyle@iom.int">ldoyle@iom.int