NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–13 April 2010 – More than a million survivors of the massive earthquake that struck Haiti three months ago, or nine of out 10 of those in need, have now received emergency shelter materials, the United Nations reported today.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the distribution of shelter material is on target to achieve the goal of reaching 1.3 million people by 1 May.
However, OCHA noted that distribution of emergency shelter must continue beyond that date because pre-positioned stocks will be necessary to cover increased needs anticipated as a result of the approaching rains and hurricane season.
Meanwhile, to support people to return to their home areas where possible, the UN and partners are working with the Haitian Government to identify the home areas of the people living in spontaneous settlements. The objective is to assess the safety of the houses for those who wish to go back and prioritize removing the rubble and debris from those areas to facilitate return.
Humanitarian agencies estimate that 3.5 million survivors of the earthquake have received food assistance, 1.3 million are receiving daily water distributions and some 510,000 have benefited from hygiene kits. More than 500,000 adults and children have been vaccinated against common diseases
On funding, OCHA reports that the revised appeal for Haiti is 51 per cent funded as of today, having received $766 million of the $1.4 billion requested.
In a related development, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today requested $12.5 million to enable it provide assistance to earthquake survivors living outside of formal camps and those who went to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
The agency has been supporting protection and camp management programmes for those who were made homeless by the earthquake on 12 January, sending emergency teams specializing in protection, logistics, registration and profiling.
In the Dominican Republic, UNHCR was asked to lead the protection response and deployed an emergency team to work with the Dominican authorities to help Haitians there.
UNHCR has conducted assessments to identify the needs of those displaced outside of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and recognized camps.
The agency and its partners aim to implement 85 projects that will target displaced people who have received less humanitarian assistance than the population living in camps and Port-au-Prince. Twenty-five of those projects will focus on the displaced population living near the border of Dominican Republic.
Source: un.org
