World Food Program steps up support for Haiti
By Nelson A. King
The United Nations’ World
Food Program (WFP) say it is
stepping up ongoing support
to Haitians who are now facing
destroyed homes, lost livelihoods
and little or no access
to food in the wake of the Aug.
14 earthquake.
The UN said more than 2,200
people were killed, and over
12,000 injured, in the 7.2-magnitude
quake, which struck the
southwest of the French-speaking
Caribbean country and was
followed by a tropical storm
just two days later.
It is estimated that more
than 130,000 homes were damaged
or destroyed, the UN said.
The UN and partners this
week launched a US$187.3 million
appeal to provide shelter,
water and sanitation, emergency
healthcare, food, protection
and early recovery assistance to
roughly half a million people.
Lola Castro, WFP Regional
Director for Latin America and
the Caribbean, who was in the
city of Les Cayes, described
the scene as heartbreaking,
with families sleeping on the
streets.
“Their houses have been
reduced to dust. Public buildings
like schools, churches and
hotels where they could have
found temporary shelter have
also been destroyed”, she said.
“The earthquake rattled people
who were already struggling to
feed their families due to economic
and climate shocks, and
insecurity.
“The compound effects of
multiple crises are devastating
communities in the south
faced with some of the highest
levels of food insecurity in the
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country”, Castro added.
WFP said it plans to provide
food aid to some 215,000
people in Sud, Grand’Anse and
Nippes departments, the three
worst-affected areas.
It said this represents an
increase from the 138,000 people
the agency was supporting
before the earthquake through
food and cash assistance.
Over the past two weeks,
WFP said it has reached 48,000
people and distributed more
than 15,000 hot meals, mainly
to patients in hospitals, their
families and medical staff.
The agency said it also provided
food to 13,000 people
in two remote areas in Sud
department, where residents
told staff they had resorted to
picking fruit from trees due to
limited access to food.
The UN Deputy Emergency
Relief Coordinator, Ramesh
Rajasingham, was among officials
who launched the funding
appeal in Haiti on Wednesday,
alongside Prime Minister Ariel
Henry.
Speaking on Thursday from
the capital, Port-au-Prince,
Rajasingham said survivors
listed access to health care,
water, sanitation, shelter, education
and protection, as the
most critical needs.
“Haiti obviously, as you
know, has suffered year after
year from disasters and deep
poverty,” he told journalists
attending the daily briefing at
UN Headquarters in New York.
“It is 170th on the Human
Development Index right now.
This just cripples the civilian
population there,”
Bruno Lemarquis, UN
Humanitarian Coordinator for
Haiti, added that funding is
also needed to assist people
displaced by a steep rise in
gang violence in the capital
since June.
Roughly one-third of the
population in the greater metropolitan
area has been affected,
he said.
Overall, some 20,000 people
are displaced, and 7,000 are
living in camps, said the UN,
stating that it is working with
the government to try to relocate
them.
Haitians impacted by the recent earthquake in Les Cayes receive relief supplies for humanitarian
agencies. WFP/Alexis Masciarelli
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