The four hurricanes and tropical storms that hit Haiti in late
August and early September destroyed nearly one third of the
seaport town of Gonaives, including the city's primary water
system.

Working with the state water authority, IOM’s Programme de
Revitalisation et de Promotion de l’Entente et de la Paix
(PREPEP), funded by the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), restored the system and began distributing
water to 50,000 residents.

“Clean water is essential for people still reeling from
the effects of this disaster. Public health concerns and the
potential for increased water-borne diseases are now considerably
reduced,” said IOM Chief of Mission Vincent Houver.

The 300,000 residents of Gonaives have endured raging flood
waters, in some areas up to four metres deep; silt and mud still
cover much of the city.  The storms and floods killed 400
people and left at least another 60,000 people living in temporary
shelters.

The restoration of the Gonaives water system is just one in a
series of projects being undertaken by IOM to help Haitians recover
from these natural disasters. 

IOM, with funding from various international donors, has been
providing non-food items to thousands of people affected and living
in shelters.  These include plastic sheeting for 13,950
families, hygiene kits (25,000), kitchen kits (14,000), jerry cans
(25,000), blankets and sheets (27,000) and mosquito nets
(30,000).

At the same time, the PREPEP programme, which was halted by the
floods, is now gearing up to restart the public infrastructure
rehabilitation projects that have been helping the residents of
Gonaives.

The IOM PREPEP programme works with vulnerable communities and
the Haitian national and municipal government bodies in an effort
to assist with the rehabilitation of key infrastructure and to
support the processes of political stabilization, community
recovery and development in Haiti.  PREPEP activities are
carried out throughout the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area (Bel
Air, Delmas, La Saline and Martissant), Petit Goâve, St.
Marc, Cap Ha?tien, Les Cayes and Gona?ves.

Since 2004, IOM has carried out more than 150 projects in
Gonaives, which have created more than 20,000 jobs.

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

For more information, please contact:

Frislain Isidor

IOM Haiti

Tel: +509 605 6004

Email: "mailto:fisidor@iom.int">fisidor@iom.int