IOM’s partners, including the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Handicap International and Oxfam International have started distributing more than 2,000 UNHCR tents, 5,800 blankets donated by the Japanese and US governments, hundreds of boxes of hygiene kits and enough rolls of plastic sheeting donated by USAID to cover the needs of some 8,200 families (41,000 individuals).
On 7 February, US military helicopters delivered plastic sheeting, blankets and jerry cans to more than 2,000 isolated families living in the mountains above the neighbourhood of Petionville. IOM emergency staff and members of the Fraternite Notre Dame distributed the aid.
IOM and its partner agencies working in the area of camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) have now identified 315 spontaneous settlement sites in and around the capital Port-au-Prince, hosting more than 91,000 families (468,000 individuals).
CCCM agencies are working on registration of the displaced, improving shelter and creating drainage and latrines in the settlements, focusing on a group of 15 sites sheltering more than 5,000 displaced people. Efforts are also being made to secure additional land close to heavily congested sites such as Place Boyer, Place St Pierre and Champs de Mars, where IOM and its partners are planning to distribute aid in the coming days.
Assistance, including the distribution of shelter material, is also being provided to seven organized settlements, including Parc St Claire, Parc Colofer and Parc de la Fe in the Delmas neighbourhood. Daily camp management is provided by IOM’s CCCM partner agencies, including Islamic Relief, the Salvation Army, the IFRC, Haitian Red Cross and Turkish Red Crescent.
To date, aid agencies have worked with the Haitian government to distribute over 23,000 tarpaulins and 22,000 family sized tents, with a further 124,000 tarpaulins and 14,000 tents ready for distribution. The challenge is to provide earthquake survivors with sufficient materials to construct their own transitional shelters, which will need to be sturdy enough to withstand the onset of the hurricane season in June.
IOM’s earthquake emergency response in Haiti is currently supported by USD 28.5 million in funding from the USA, UK, Sweden, Korea, Japan, France, Finland and Canada. It has also received funding from the UN Central Emergency Fund (CERF), the Clinton Foundation and private donors, including the Argos Cement Company of Colombia.
For further information, please contact IOM Haiti. Jean-Philippe Chauzy, Tel. +509 3643 79 14, +41 79 285 4366, Email: pchauzy@iom.int or Mark Turner, Tel: +509 38140189, Email: mturner@iom.int or markyturner@yahoo.com
