"A total of 350 ten-person tents donated by the UK-charity Shelterbox have been set-up, with work being finalized on latrines, showers and electricity," says IOM’s Christopher Gascon. "The first families are expected to more in from the capital’s Parc de la Primature and surrounding areas in the coming days. The daily management of the organized settlement in Tabarre will be carried out by the French NGO ACTED."
An estimated 900,000 to 1.1 million people are believed to be in acute need of emergency shelter assistance in Haiti, according to assessment data compiled by IOM and its partners, the vast majority of them in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
In an effort to tackle the complex challenge of immediately assisting such large numbers of people whilst ensuring adequate shelter protection is available in the coming months when the rainy and hurricane seasons arrive, IOM and its partners in Haiti continue to focus on distributing tarpaulins and plastic sheets to improve shelter conditions for those made homeless until more tents arrive in the country.
To date, more than 6,000 tarpaulins, 1,948 tents, 800 shelter kits, 3,345 items of plastic sheeting and 400 shelterboxes, each containing a 10-person tent, blankets, water purifiers, mosquito nets, tools, a stove, kitchen equipment and materials for children, have been distributed to by IOM and its partners to some 36,000 people.
Currently, the shelter cluster has some 9,290 tarpaulins, 7,295 tents, 11,940 items plastic sheeting in stock with a further 57,320 tarpaulins, 50,720 tents, 32,912 items of plastic sheeting expected to in the coming days.
IOM is currently working on improving warehousing facilities to increase the provision and distribution of non food assistance for shelter cluster partners, including ACTED, the American Refugee Committee (ARC), the Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVISI), Catholic Relief Service (CRS) the Red Cross Movement and Islamic Relief.
In response to an initial appeal launched on 15 January and which will be shortly revised to better reflect the scale of needs in the country, the Organization had asked for US$ 30 million to provide emergency shelter and non-food assistance and to establish a cash-for-work programme that would include rubble removal.
IOM has so far received pledges totaling USD 23,3 million from the US government (OFDA/USAID), Sweden, the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Canada, France, Finland, Korea, the Clinton Foundation and Argos Cement Company of Colombia to support ongoing relief operations and future rebuilding efforts.
Private donations can be made to IOM through the IOM website at www.iom.int and in the United States at http://www.usaim.org/PROJECTHaiti.asp
For further information, please contact Jean Philippe Chauzy or Jemini Pandya, IOM Geneva, Tel: + 41 22 717 9361/+ 41 79 285 4366, Email: pchauzy@iom.int and + 41 22 717 9486/+ 41 79 217 3374 Email: jpandya@iom.int respectively.
and + 41 22 717 9486/+ 41 79 217 3374 Email: respectively.