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Tropical Storm Hanna hit Haiti on Thursday, unloading massive amounts of rain to the already water-saturated country.  This is the third storm to hit the country in 3 weeks. Another storm - Ike, a category 4 hurricane - is forecasted to pass to the north of Haiti early Sunday morning.

Oxfam will provide 500 non-food item kits and 1,000 5-gallon bottles of drinking water to families in Gonaives over the weekend.

The UN estimates that some 650,000 people nationwide have been affected by the storm. More than 61 people are reported to have died, the majority in the town of Gonaïves, where more than 11,000 people have sought refuge in temporary shelters.  Shelters are also filling up in the town of Ennery just north of Gonaives.  

Food, water, and basic supplies are scarce, and health and sanitation conditions are extremely concerning, as human waste is being disposed in the stagnant waters, already contaminated with carcasses of dead animals.

 “The town of Gonaives has been completely devastated. The streets are lined with groups of people walking through the streets trying to find higher ground,” said Mr. Parnell A. Denis, Oxfam’s contact on the ground in Gonaives.  “Food supplies and water are scarce and the price of the food that’s left is rising.  The morale of people staying in the shelters is so very low; I am afraid to tell them that another storm is on its way.”  

Until today, water levels at the southern entrance of the town had cut off access to humanitarian convoys from Port-au-Prince; the northern entrance remains inaccessible. Oxfam is sending an assessment team to Gonaives this weekend. Additional distributions of kits and water are planned for the coming days and joint interventions are being coordinated with other NGOs.

In the west department, Oxfam is coordinating with local authorities in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area to provide support for 6 shelters currently housing more than 1,100 people.

In the North, Oxfam teams have been conducting evaluations with local authorities and other NGOs to assess the extent of the damage and are ready to distribute non-food item kits in the north.

In the Nippes department, Oxfam is following up its first response to Hurricane Gustav with the deployment of an in depth evaluation team.  Last weekend, Oxfam distributed non-food item kits to 110 families, in addition to 700 5-gallon bottles of drinking water.  

All actions are being carried out in collaboration with local authorities in each area.


Contact Name: Sarah Dransfield
Company: Oxfam
Contact Email: click to reveal e-mail
Contact Phone: 01865 472498
Company Website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
oxfam | tropical storm | hurricane gustav | haiti | weather |

Categories:
charity/voluntary sector
environment/conservation

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