Published 20/01/2010 14:41
Edited 20/01/2010
14:54
The International Red Cross is preparing to help quake victims in Haiti over at least a three-year period. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimate that some 60,000 families, or some 300,000 people, are in need of aid. The IFRC now estimates that providing them with aid over three years will cost a total of EUR 73 million. More than 400 Red Cross aid workers and volunteers from all over the world are currently involved in the Haiti relief effort, assisting in search-and-rescue, clearing rubble and giving medical aid as well supplying clean water and sanitation for the quake-stricken capital Port-au-Prince. In addition, Red Cross Societies have sent logistics and IT teams to Haiti to organize and assist in the distribution of aid.
A water-purifying unit from the Spanish Red Cross is supplying clean water for 24,000 people in Port-au-Prince. The unit estimates it can provide clean water for some 200,000–400,000 people daily.
The Finnish Red Cross has sent a mobile healthcare clinic to Haiti along with eight volunteer workers. The clinic is already assisting quake victims in the capital. Later this week, the Finnish Red Cross will send to Haiti an operating theatre and a hospital ward for 100 patients. They will combine with a field hospital provided by the German Red Cross, thereby increasing the total number of patient beds to 250.
A field hospital provided by the Norwegian and Canadian Red Cross Societies is already working in Port-au-Prince. It can care for 200 patients a day.
Red Cross Societies from all over the world have sent a total of 500 tonne of aid supplies to Haiti, including, among other things, cooking equipment, hygiene products and mosquito nets. The Finnish Red Cross has sent family tents and tarpaulins to Haiti. In the disaster area aid supplies are distributed in cooperation with volunteers from the Haitian Red Cross
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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