Three weeks on from the devastating earthquake that has left about
1.1 million people homeless, focus is shifting to the urgent need
for transitional shelter that can tide people through the upcoming
rainy season.

This would include tarpaulins, plastic sheeting, tools and ropes
that provide more weather-proof and durable shelter in the months
to come and upon which they can add more materials.

More than 55 aid agencies working on providing emergency shelter
and non-food relief assistance to Haitian earthquake victims are
aiming to reach more than one million earthquake victims.

So far, the aid agencies including IOM have distributed or will
soon have distributed close to 52,000 tarpaulins, more than 9,000
family tents, thousands of ropes, family toolkits, mosquito nets,
and kitchen sets. Tens of thousands of hygiene kits, blankets and
sheets, and more than 126,000 jerry cans have also been
distributed. Among the non-food items in the pipeline due to arrive
in the coming days and weeks are tens of thousands more of
tarpaulins, tents, ropes, shelter kits and blankets.

Assistance such as this will be particularly important to help
support families hosting those displaced from the capital,
Port-au-Prince.

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2010

With 340,000 people having left the city on government
transport, most of them to stay with family or friends elsewhere
and an unknown number through their own means, it is clear that
host families will need support in providing a roof for the
displaced.

IOM and partners will also be assessing displacement and
population influxes in the towns of Jacmel, Leogane, Gressier, St.
Marc, Gonaeves, Les Cayes and Jeremie in order to better define
shelter needs and distributions.

For those who have not left the capital and are living in
spontaneous settlements, work is ongoing to improve their living
conditions.

Shortly, about 3,500 people in the neighbourhood of Tabarre will
be able to move into the first organized settlement prepared for
those left homeless and which will be managed by the French
non-governmental organization (NGO) ACTED. Three hundred and fifty
tents each capable of accommodating 10 people, have been put up at
the site which will also have other essential facilities such as
clean water and sanitation.

Another four sites around the capital have been selected for the
establishment of organized settlements that would facilitate more
coordinated and comprehensive aid delivery.

"If we are to be able to help the homeless to get back on their
feet as soon as possible, then we have to also clear the rubble and
simultaneously, get people back to work," says IOM's chief of
mission in Haiti, Vincent Houver. "Longer-term shelter solutions
cannot be implemented until the land is cleared to be built upon
and the people themselves can help to do this and be paid for
it."

As part of its initial appeal for USD 30 million for Haiti and
which is now being revised to more accurately reflect the needs of
the country, IOM had asked for USD 8 million to implement a
cash-for-work programme, largely through rubble removal.

"Even before the earthquake, IOM's cash-for-work programme among
Haiti's poorest communities helped to empower communities. Now,
more than ever, such an initiative can play an important role in
helping to rebuild the country, put a safe roof over people's heads
and help to get their lives back on track," Houver adds.

For further information, please contact:

Jemini Pandya

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 22 717 9486

       +41 79 217 3374

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

or

Mark Turner

IOM Haiti

Tel: +509 38140189

E-mail: "mailto:markyturner@yahoo.com">markyturner@yahoo.com