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Red Cross assists people affected by the earthquake in Haiti - 13 January 2010

An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck Haiti on Tuesday. The quake hit Port au Prince, the main town, and other areas of the country. The event was felt in other countries in the region. The most affected area is the West Province with a population of 2.2 million.

In Haiti, the Red Cross volunteers are assisting the injured people, supporting hospitals who have overloaded their capacity of attention.

The Red Cross had pre-positioned relief supplies to attend 3,000 families in Haiti. From these, there are supplies available for 500 families in Port-au-Prince. The emergency supplies consist of kitchen kits, personal hygiene kits, blankets and containers for storing drinking water.

Around 500,000 Swiss francs from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund are assigned to start relief operations and plans are in place to issue a preliminary appeal for humanitarian aid for 2 million Swiss francs.

“These funds will enable us to initiate assistance, assessments and asses the extent of the damage as well as the needs. Once we have a better picture of the situation, we will review the funding request, which we think may be increased”, said Mauricio Bustamante, Operations Coordinator of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

It is expected that at least three people, experts in disaster response, health in emergency and logistics arrive in Haiti tomorrow in order to support the Haitian Red Cross in the relief efforts and to begin to coordinate international assistance from members of the Internacional Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent as well as other donors. On Wednesday Morning, a Red Cross team will lead an assesment together with the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Union.

The immediate needs at this time are focused on search and rescue, emergency health, water and sanitation, emergency shelter, logistics and telecommunications.

Destruction and devastation in Haiti after the earthquake.
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Destruction and devastation in Haiti after the earthquake.


 
 
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is the world's largest humanitarian organisation, with 186 member Societies. All our work is guided by seven fundamental principles: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary service, Unity and Universality.