Published 19/01/2010 15:41
Edited 21/01/2010
16:47
A second batch of relief supplies leaves the Finnish Red Cross logistics centre in Tampere today, en route to Haiti. The supplies, including 240 family tents big enough to house a family of six, are first transported to Berlin by lorry. Also bound for Germany are 600 tarpaulins which can be used to build temporary shelters. In Berlin the Finnish supplies will join a German Red Cross field hospital and be flown to Port-au-Prince.
Later this week, the Finnish Red Cross is sending an operating theatre and a hospital ward for 100 patients to Haiti, where they will be combined with the German Red Cross field hospital.
‘The operating theatre and hospital ward increase the size of the field hospital provided by the German Red Cross and will allow it to treat more patients.
- Right now, there are many patients in Haiti who are in need of operations but as yet cannot be treated,’ explains Kimmo Juvas, who plans international aid efforts for the Finnish Red Cross.
At this moment all the hospitals in Port-au-Prince are full, and simply cannot take in any more patients.
Finnish staff are flying to Haiti with the hospital. 20 aid workers are heading to Haiti along with the equipment for the operating room and hospital beds. Among them are surgeons, anaesthetists, operating room and surgical nurses.
Clinic begins work today
The FRC clinic which arrived in Haiti on Saturday will be opening its doors today. The first patients will be admitted to the clinic in the yard outside the Haitian Red Cross headquarters in Port-au-Prince.
‘At present, the yard is an excellent location for the clinic, because people already know the Haitian Red Cross headquarters building and know they can get help there. The yard is also a safe place for the clinic,’ says Finnish Red Cross information officer Noora Kero in Port-au-Prince.
The severe earthquake that hit Haiti on January 13 has laid waste the capital Port-au-Prince. The International Red Cross estimates that about a third of Haiti’s 10 million people are in need of aid.
The Red Cross started helping the people of Haiti immediately after the quake. Right away, the Haitian Red Cross began rescuing people from the rubble. The Finnish Red Cross has sent a mobile clinic to Haiti and cooperated with the German Red Cross to send a field hospital. In addition, Finnish aid workers and relief supplies have been sent to the disaster area.
Haiti will continue to need aid for years to come.
Photo: Noora Kero
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Make a donation to the Finnish Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, account number 221918-68000
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Finnish Red Cross mobile clinic is funded by the European Comission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).
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