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Earthquake in Haiti: WFP External Situation Report, 14 January 2010

Countries
Haiti
Sources
WFP
Publication date

Overview

Earthquake Caseload: 2 million people

Cost of WFP Earthquake operations in Haiti: US$279 million (Food operations US$246 million, Logistics US$33 million)

Time frame: January to July 2010

WFP Staff in Haiti: 225 + 19 surge staff (between Haiti and Dominican Rep.)

The Current Situation in Haiti

- Due to the 7.0 scale earthquake which hit Haiti at 1700 hours local time, there is extensive damage to much of the city of Port-au-Prince. The WFP office is also damaged.

- There is no water, food supplies or electricity and telecommunication (radios and mobile phones) has been cutoff due to the aftershocks.

- All 32 WFP international staff are accounted for. Concerns remain regarding the WFP national staff, as up to 40 staff remain unaccounted for. These staff may well be safe, but due to the situation, communications with them are not possible.

WFP Response

- In addition to the US$500,000 immediate response Emergency Operation approved yesterday, WFP has developed a new earthquake-specific Emergency Operation as well as two Special Operations.

- WFP food distributions started on 13 January in Jacmel for around 3,000 people located in the airport. Distributions in Port au Prince are ongoing today with military escorts for a further 2,900 beneficiaries in three points in town which have been identified as areas where a large number of people are concentrated.

- Six clusters have been established: logistics, water and sanitation, shelter, health, emergency telecommunications and food aid; cluster coordination meetings began today. WFP is heading the logistics, emergency telecommunications and food aid clusters.

- One plane departed Panama UNHRD with staff support equipment, and ready-to-eat foods. A further flight is expected to leave today

- 60 MT of HEB being sent from San Salvador to Port-au-Prince should arrive later today.

- Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Estonia have approved the deployment of a base camp to host 200 UN staff, due to the destruction of the UN compound in Port au Prince. WFP was requested to coordinate this by the Resident Coordinator.

- WFP has deployed 19 additional staff to provide logistics, telecommunications, security and administrative support, in addition to two staff counsellors.

- Telecommunications remains a critical issue for all humanitarian actors. Thus, three IT officers are arriving in Port-au-Prince Friday in order to re-establish communication facilities for WFP and the entire humanitarian community, as part of WFP's Emergency Telecommunication Cluster mandate. Two IT officers are already in Port-au-Prince doing IT assessment work.