NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–9 April 2010 – Relief organizations working with United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti are preparing to relocate some 7,500 earthquake survivors at risk of potential flooding in a camp above Port-au-Prince, the capital.
People living in dangerous areas at the Petionville Club settlement were presented with voluntary relocation options and when those are not possible, relocation will be facilitated to a new site at Corail Cesselesse, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Relocation to this site will start tomorrow and is expected to take several days.
The new site will include health care and food distribution services as well as specialized services for children, such as a learning area provided by the UN Children Fund (UNICEF).
The 12 January quake killed more than 200,000 people and left one third of the country’s 9 million people in need of aid, with scores of thousands sheltering in camps where they live in difficult conditions.
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro will travel to Haiti on Sunday to survey the situation in the camps, assess steps that have been taken and explore areas for further action after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his concern, in particular at reports of sexual violence against women and children.
Ms. Migiro will meet with President René Préval and other senior Government officials and spend Sunday night in one of the camps, meeting with residents and police to assess the efforts to protect the people there from sexual violence and related problems.
On Monday she will visit the town of Léogâne, which was also badly affected by the quake, to discuss child protection issues with Haitian officials.
Source: un.org
