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Latin America & The Caribbean Weekly Situation Update (23-29 August 2021) As of 30 August 2021

Países
Haití
+ 5
Fuentes
OCHA
Fecha de publicación

KEY FIGURES

$187.3M FLASH APPEAL LAUNCHED TO REACH 500,000 PEOPLE AFFECTED BY EARTHQUAKE

HAITI: EARTHQUAKE

Nearly two weeks after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked south-western Haiti, an area later affected by Tropical Depression Grace’s heavy rains, humanitarian assistance has begun in some of the hardest-to-reach areas to meet urgent needs. Humanitarian convoys en route to hard-hit areas continue to be blocked by affected people growing increasingly frustrated by a lack of assistance and armed gangs looting relief supplies.

The Haitian Civil Protection General Directorate (DGPC) reports 2,207 deaths, 12,268 injured and 320 missing, with at least 52,900 homes destroyed and 77,006 damaged. Some people whose homes are still standing are choosing to sleep in the streets in fear that their homes may collapse at any moment.
While response to shelter needs is a key priority, the Government is seeking to avoid large-scale camps for internally displaced people (IDPs), similar to those implemented after the 2010 earthquake and again after Hurricane Matthew in 2016, in order to mitigate COVID-19 health risks associated with placing tens of thousands of people in close quarters.

On 25 August, UN agencies and partners launched a US$187.3 million Flash Appeal to reach 500,000 people. The various impacts of the earthquake will have long-lasting effects on development in the hardest-hit communities, making early recovery and rehabilitation programmes pivotal to restoring livelihoods.

REGIONAL: HURRICANE SEASON

Ida affected western Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane, passing over the provinces of Pinar del Río, Matanzas, Artemisa and Mayabeque, as well as the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud. Per the UN System in Cuba, Ida primarily affected agriculture and roofing, as well as toppling trees and knocking out power and communications. Several areas took on more than 100mm of rainfall. Authorities, who have already begun working under declaration of recovery operations, are in the midst of restoring power in affected areas.
Ida’s arrival in Pinar del Río is stoking concerns, as authorities consider the province, with a rate of more than 2,800 COVID-19 cases per every 100,000 inhabitants and more than 16,000 cases in a recent 15-day span, one of the epicentres of the country’s current COVID-19 surge.

Ida also affected the Cayman Islands.
Authorities are completing damage assessments after Ida's strong winds and rains caused power outages. The Government has given the all-clear, with the four hurricane shelters opened on Grand Cayman set to close. Officials indicate that Ida prompted some 20 people to seek shelter.

In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Nora lashed communities in the Mexican coastal states of Colima, Jalisco and Michoacan with heavy rain, storm surge and mudslides. Nora, which has now dissipated, is the second hurricane to strike Mexico in a week after Hurricane Grace left eight dead during its inland path from the Caribbean over Tabasco,
Tamaulipas and Veracruz.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.