Families returning home from temporary shelters this week received
return kits to rebuild homes damaged or destroyed  by the four
hurricanes and tropical storms that hit Haiti in late August and
early September.

Working in close partnership with CARE, the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and Haiti's Civil
Protection Department and the Ministry of Social Affairs, IOM this
week distributed return kits to more than 1,000 families.

The IOM return kits include tool sets, tarpaulins, corrugated
iron sheets, and sleeping mats.  As part of the return kits,
the government of Haiti and CARE are providing mattresses, sleeping
bags, jerry cans, hygiene kits and 1,000 Haitian Gourde
(approximately USD 26).

At the beginning of this week, some 3,000 families were still
living in temporary shelters in Gonaives, including some 2,000 in
schools. 

IOM is focusing its efforts on families living in schools so
that schools can reopen as soon as possible.

A survey conducted by IOM at the schools to determine which
families would be able to return home based on the level of damage
sustained to houses and accessibility of the area, determined that
some 60 per cent could return to their places of origin. 

"After we finish going to all schools being used as shelters,
IOM will continue to help all families who are able and willing to
return home.  IOM is also improving living conditions at
makeshift shelter sites, and will provide support to those who lost
their homes and need to be relocated," explains Vincent Houver, IOM
Chief of Mission in Haiti.

The distribution of the return kits will continue as families
leave the temporary shelters and return to repair their homes.

At the government's request, IOM is carrying out site planning
for several potential relocation sites in Gonaives, as well as
assessments for the rehabilitation of schools.

As part of ongoing early recovery initiatives carried out in
partnership with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), 800 people
have been employed for the clean-up efforts.

With funding from international donors IOM has been providing
non-food items to thousands of people living in shelters. 
These include plastic sheeting, hygiene and kitchen kits and other
household items for upwards of 25,000 families.  IOM remains
concerned by the vulnerable situation of those affected by the
natural disasters, particularly in rural areas, where cases of
malnutrition have multiplied.

IOM has appealed for USD 13 million as part of the UN Flash
Appeal.  To date, contributions totaling about USD 5.6 million
have been received from USAID's Office for Foreign Disaster
Assistance, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC),
the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the
governments of Greece, Japan and Spain, the UN's Central Emergency
Response Fund (CERF), UNDP and UNOCHA. 

For more information, please contact:

Frislain Isidor

IOM Haiti

Tel: +509 605 6004

E-mail: "mailto:fisidor@iom.int">fisidor@iom.int