Update on Haiti...

A short update on the activities of Caritas in Haiti. Remember that our ShareLife partners at Development & Peace are the Caritas Internationalis agency in Canada - they are actively involved in funding and on-the-ground work in Haiti.

Caritas Haiti has begun to deliver almost 100 tonnes of food to Port-au-Prince this week to feed at least 50,000 people in one of the city’s biggest camps, Petionville Club. Working in a joint response to the earthquake of almost two weeks ago, the Caritas agencies have already brought food, water, medical and other supplies to more than 25,000 people. But the needs remain great, and logistics, communication and security have been serious challenges. The public has donated over US $60 million (Euro 45 million) so far to Caritas members worldwide.

Before this disaster, Haiti had very poor infrastructure. Caritas says it was not possible to have the amount of resources required to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of people overnight. But Caritas Haiti had stocks that were already pre-positioned in their warehouses, which enabled them to respond to the crisis within a short matter of hours. They were also able to bring in at least 40 truckloads so far from neighbouring Dominican Republic, and receive supplies via a severely damaged port. Almost two weeks after the devastating earthquake, people are becoming more desperate for food, but the constant flow of helicopters carrying crates over the city show that aid is getting through. (more...)