Out of nine million people in Haiti about 35% are thought to be in need of aid following the devastating earthquake four days ago. The UN has launched an appeal for $562m, which it hopes will fund a six-month relief effort to help the injured and those who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods.
Considering the Haiti’s status as the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and owing to past disasters including several hurricanes in 2008, many international charities already had teams on the ground working on aid and reconstruction. These agencies have mobilised emergency teams in response to the quake.
Medical aid to help treat the many thousands injured has been a priority, with the International Committee of the Red Cross reporting that most hospitals in Port-au-Prince are full or degraded. The scale of the damage and the fact that it struck the capital city – the centre of resources – was handicapping the relief effort. And, after all three of its medical facilities in the city were damaged in the earthquake, it has been doing limited work mostly in tented clinics.
According to Marc Dubois from Medecins Sans Frontieres, “this is a race against time – people are injured and need immediate first aid and they need surgery, and we’ve just now been able to get that going. If things don’t happen right now… then people are going to die from infections, not from their injuries.”
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