Alliance for Solidarity-Action Aid has intensified its activity in Haiti and has issued an appeal for urgent humanitarian aid in the face of new aftershocks and the arrival of more hurricanes.
The organization recalls that the humanitarian situation in Haiti for at least 650,000 people worsens as the days go by due to complications for the distribution of international humanitarian aid, new aftershocks in the vicinity of the earthquake of August 14 and the forecast arrival of tropical storms and hurricanes.
Coinciding with the International Day of Solidarity, which is celebrated this August 31, Alianza por la Solidaridad-Action Aid echoes the call of the United Nations to obtain some 160 million euros in emergency aid for thousands of families who have been left without a home, means of subsistence or access to minimal living conditions.
Florentine David, project coordinator for the NGO in the Caribbean country, explained the difficulties they are facing. “People are so desperate that there have been assaults on trucks that were taking food to affected areas and now they have to be escorted by agents of the national police; there is also an attempt to send with a boat from a French organization, given that the airport in the region It is small. Fortunately, Alianza already had resources in the area, which were not affected by the earthquake, and distribution has been rapid, although much more will be needed, “he said.
To the new seismic aftershocks that are taking place –various of 3.5º in magnitude in recent days– it is added that, from the country’s Civil Protection it has been reported that this year about 21 tropical storms and hurricanes between June and November, climatic events that will find more than 77,000 semi-destroyed houses, 53,000 totally destroyed, impassable roads and missing health centers and schools. Only in the department of Grand’Anse five health centers (Corail, Carrefour Charles, Duchity, Latiboliere and Pestel) are today rubble.
The aid that the Spanish NGO distributes in the area most affected by the earthquake consists of food and essential non-food items such as shelter, kitchen utensils, water treatment kits and hygiene kits for women and girls, a sector with which it also works to prevent violence.
Regarding alternative accommodation for those who have been left homeless after this catastrophe, the Haitian government has asked international organizations not to set up camps for the victims, but rather that the affected families install tents or tents on their properties. They are trying to prevent these types of settlements from becoming permanent for years, like a decade ago.
So far, more than 5,000 families have already received support from Alianza, a figure that is expected to increase by 3,780 in the next two or three weeks with the arrival of more international aid.
To date, there are already 2,207 fatalities from the August 14 earthquake, which reached a magnitude of 7.4º. There are still 320 missing, according to United Nations data.
