Situationsrapport fra OCHA New York (FN’s Miljøkatastrofeafdeling), udgivet onsdag d. 20. januar 2010:
I. Situation overview
An aftershock of 6,1 magnitude on the Richer scale hit Haiti at 06:03 local time on 20 January. The epicenter of the aftershock was 5km south of the city of Petit Goave (approximately 60 km southwest of Port-au-Prince). Search and rescue and assessment teams were dispatched to Petit Goave and Leogane to evaluate damage and to resurvey buildings for potential trapped survivors from the 12 January earthquake. No new deaths were reported but there were a number of injuries. Medical teams are remaining in Petit Goave overnight to provide assistance.
USAR teams continued their activities on 20 January. It was unclear if there had been additional live rescues at the time of reporting. Search and rescue activities will continue.
The Haitian Directorate for Civil Protection (DCP) has estimated that the earthquake resulted in 75.000 persons killed, 200.000 injured and one million displaced. Approximately half of all structures in Port-au-Prince are believed to have collapsed.
IOM estimates that there are more than 300 makeshift settlements scattered throughout the city, with an estimated 370.000 people living under improvised shelter with no access to water supplies, according to recent assessments. Until tents can be provided, priority needs for those in these settlements include plastic sheeting, water containers, and water purification tablets.
Work has started at a site recently identified in the suburb of Croix des Bouquets for a temporary settlement. A Brazilian battalion deployed with MINUSTAH is leveling the land for the establishment of a 30.000 person tented settlement which will facilitate aid delivery to a large numbers of displaced. The Inter-American Development Bank is planning to build permanent houses for 30.000 people at the same location.
The Government’s free transport service for people wanting to leave Port-au-Prince remains active and many people are leaving affected areas. According to the MINUSTAH Regional Office in Les Cayes, populations are arriving in Grande Anse, Nippes, South, and South west departments. The provision of tents to these populations and the installation of more organized and structured transit centres is priority.
The Prime Minister confirmed the Government’s intention of building temporary settlements. The Government reminded humanitarian partners of the upcoming rainy season which starts in April and expressed its wish to provide shelter to all displaced by that date. President Préval broadcasted from radio MINUSTAH to the people of Port-au-Prince on 19 January sending a message of encouragement and explaining what the international community was doing to help Haitians.
The overall security situation remains stable despite isolated instances of looting and unrest. The conditions of prison facilities and earlier prison escapes continue to be cause for concern.
II. Humanitarian Needs and Response
The 12 clusters1 designated in the Flash Appeal are mobilizing and holding more regular meetings to coordinate their joint efforts.
Logistics
The Logistics Cluster continues to report heavy congestion at the Port-au-Prince airport. About 150 planes are landing daily. Finding free slots for large aircraft is still a challenge. The logistics cluster is requesting that planned flights are announced well in advance, and unless the cargo is life-saving, to use the airport in Santo Domingo which has sufficient operational capacity.
Following repairs to the south pier of the port at Port-au-Prince, the first ship was able to land with 123 metric tons of goods. Many more ships are expected over the coming period. All vessels considering transit to Haiti should confirm that the facility they intend to visit can safely accommodate their arrival.
The port at Gonaives is operational and has lifting capacity. Saint-Marc is also operational but has no lifting capacity. Miragoane and Jacmel ports can accept some cargo but the road to Port-au-Prince from both ports is likely to be blocked. Cap Haitien is fully functioning, but there is limited or no fuel available at the port. Port de Paix and Labadie ports are operational with minimal to no damage.
In Port-au-Prince, Atlas/Handicap International is running a fleet of 3.5 metre all-terrain trucks to provide free inter-agency transport. The team and structure were in place before the earthquake and the operation is running smoothly. This capacity will be augmented with both private contracted trucks and military vehicles. All requests for transport by US military assets are being coordinated through the Logistics Cluster to ensure the most effective use of the available resources. The logistics Cluster is also coordinating with the Canadian military, which is currently focusing mainly on the south coast out of Jacmel. Cargo movement request forms and temporary storage request forms are available on the Logistics Cluster website at http://www.logcluster.org/ops/hti10a.
A Logistics Cluster meeting is held daily at 09:30h at the humanitarian operations centre in Port-au-Prince. A first Logistics Cluster meeting was held in the WFP office in Santo Domingo on 19 January, with 17 agencies, NGOs and donor representatives attending.
Health
The Health Cluster reports that five hospitals have been assessed, including General Hospital, Hospital de la Paix, Isaie Jeanty, Hospital Choscal and Carrefour Diquini Hospital. The immediate priorities are to reinforce hospital staff and to tackle the medical waste problems. Assessments of hospital facilities will continue to look at hospital infrastructure, referral systems and the organization of transportation of patients.
Haiti’s Central Procurement Agency for Drugs and Medical Supplies, managed by PAHO/WHO (called PROMESS) is procuring additional medical supplies to cope with demand, and will continue purchasing in the Dominican Republic to ensure rapid distribution. Flights are en route to Haiti, carrying medicines and supplies that can treat 165.000 people for one month, as well as drugs and equipment to treat 1.000 people with trauma injuries.
Disease surveillance is ongoing and an early warning system is being established. Population displacement and overcrowding could increase the risk of transmission of communicable diseases. Damaged medical and sanitation systems, and a lack of safe drinking water, could lead to hygiene related and food borne diseases. Untreated trauma wounds and infection of wounds are major health concerns that need priority attention.
The Health Cluster is working closely with the newly established National Commission for the Management of the Crisis, which integrates the Health Ministry, to support national priorities that include establishing mobile clinics in all the spontaneous settlements that have been created; ensuring the availability of obstetric care and delivery kits; and ensuring that the delivery of health care services is properly coordinated with the support of the Health Cluster.
The Health Cluster sub-group on public health assessments. led by the NGO Merlin. is looking to adapt and use the Inter-sectoral Rapid Assessment (IRA) tool to determine priority needs. The Health Cluster and other clusters have agreed to form multi-disciplinary teams to carry out this rapid assessment. OCHA will assist with the logistics in collaboration with the UNDAC Team.
The Health Cluster is considering setting up an additional sub-group to deal with drugs and medical supplies (reception and distribution).
Food
Deliveries were able to take place to almost 10.000 people in Jacmel on 19 January. The Government has requested that food assistance should also take into account regions not directly affected by the earthquake due to price hikes and food shortages reported across the country. WFP estimates that up to 2 million persons affected by the earthquake require food assistance in Haiti, noting that an estimated 1,8 million Haitians were food insecure prior to the earthquake.
Following the one-week emergency ration, WFP plans to transition to 60 days of general food distribution, initiating food-for-work activities when possible to rehabilitate streets and public buildings. In the coming month, WFP also expects improved access to affected neighborhoods, increased water tankering, and the provision of shelters and kitchen sets, to support a transition to dry rations in some neighborhoods, and community kitchens in others.
WASH
As of 19 January, the WASH Cluster has established 82 distribution sites for water, and has 180 water trucks with a total capacity to provide water to 180.000 people. Water tanks are been erected in each zone of the city. Water distribution was halted on 19 January due to fuel shortage. UNICEF contracted a fuel provider on 20 January that has committed to providing 5.000 gallons of fuel on a daily basis. The main cluster priorities include continued daily distribution of water to affected population and increasing the number of water trucks to facilitate distribution.
The makeshift settlements in Port-au-Prince are a concern due to limited latrine capacity. The Government has confirmed that stocks of 900 latrine plates are available in-country. There is also a need for construction materials for latrines.
The WASH cluster announced that no more water purification units are needed, but shortages persist for bladders, distribution units, small water pumps for drinking water and drums for latrines. The cluster will begin sanitation and hygiene promotion activities shortly.
The WASH Cluster reports a good start in the launching of various working groups (sanitation, hygiene promotion, logistics, resource mobilization, and needs assessment) with the involvement of the private sector and government institutions (DINEPA and SMCRS for solid waste management). Needs assessments are ongoing both in Port-au-Prince and outside by cluster partners.
Shelter/Non-Food Items (NFIs)
IOM reports that up to 25.000 people were expected to receive non-food relief assistance on 20 January in five locations.
The Shelter Cluster has developed a draft shelter strategy to address the shelter needs of the populations. Numbers for outlying regions have not been determined.
UNHCR has made available 2.130 light weight tents and 18.500 plastic sheets that will arrive in Haiti on the week of 24 January. On arrival, this shelter material will be handed over to IOM for distribution.
Protection
The Child Protection sub-group has established a 24-hour help line to assist with the identification and tracing of children. It has been established in partnership with the Haitian welfare ministries, with the support of UNICEF, Save the Children and IOM.
UNICEF and the Ministry of Social Work are working at the airport to block child transfers that do not have the appropriate documentation. UNICEF is coordinating with the Canadian and French embassies to support and reinforce the normal legal adoption procedures. A team will also be operational as of 21 January at the border with the Dominican Republic to control cross-border movements.
Another priority for the sub-cluster is separated children. A list of orphanages has been compiled and the capacities of daycare centres is being assessed. A harmonized tool for the assessment of daycare centres has been approved by the cluster, and all data will be compiled in a database and made available to cluster partners.
UNICEF reports that it will be setting up child centres to service 900 children with tracing/reunification, food, psychosocial support and medical assistance. WFP has agreed to provide food to all child centres and childcare facilities identified by UNICEF.
Due to unconfirmed reports of rape and gender based violence (GBV), UNFPA and UNICEF are working on the rapid activation of the GBV working group.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has requested UNHCR to be part of a mission that will help support the coordination of the Protection Cluster in Haiti. Two UNHCR staff members with protection and cluster management experience are expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince shortly. They are part of a 5-member OHCHR/UNHCR mission.
Nutrition
The Nutrition Cluster has been activated and will concentrate its efforts on four areas of work: infant and young child feeding, micronutrients (vitamin A and zinc to fight diarrhea); malnutrition and integrated rapid assessments. Supplementary feeding and therapeutic feeding will start after reception centres are set up and after general food distribution improves.
The cluster is planning a nutrition assessment to get data on the numbers of people needing treatment for acute malnutrition as well as to understand the capacity and gaps in this sector. The lack of implementing partners is a constraint. UNICEF has deployed a Nutrition Cluster Coordinator who will be arriving in Port-au-Prince on 22 January.
UNICEF/WHO/WFP issued a joint statement on 19 January calling for appropriate infant and young child feeding in Haiti in order to promote breastfeeding and to avoid unnecessary donations of breast-milk substitutes.
Agriculture
The first meeting of the Agriculture Cluster will be held on 21 January. FAO reports that the planting season is due to begin in two weeks’ time in Haiti. It will work with the Ministry of Agriculture in the Dominican Republic and Haiti to help with the restoration of livelihoods.
Early Recovery
UNDP invited all partners to the first Early Recovery cluster meeting which will be held on 21 January. The discussion will focus on defining more substantially the early recovery effort to reestablish economic activities following the earthquake.
III. Coordination
UNDAC has established a Needs Assessment Task Force to strengthen inter-cluster coordination of needs assessment in Port-au-Prince, under the leadership of the Assessment Capacities NGO consortia (ACAPS) and OCHA. All clusters have been requested to identify a needs assessment focal point. A multi-sector needs assessment is planned to take place in the coming days.
To ease coordination on the ground, OCHA has requested that agencies locate their offices/bases as close as possible to the main logbase camp in Port-au-Prince. The UNDAC team continues to coordinate the Onsite Operations and Coordination Center (OSOCC) that has been established at the MINUSTAH logbase. It is supported by the European Civil Protection Mechanism and OCHA staff.
UNDAC members and OCHA staff are also deployed to Santo Domingo to support coordination of relief transiting through the Dominican Republic. A coordination and situation room has been established at the UN house in Santo Domingo.
A Haiti coordination email listserve has been setup by OCHA/UNDAC for the distribution of locally produced contact lists, meeting schedules and assessment reports. To join the list, e-mail [email protected] with the subject line ‘join’.
IV. Funding
According to the Financial Tracking Service, the Flash Appeal is currently 27 percent funded. Of the 575million US dollar requested, 152 million US dollar has been received, while an additional 87 million US dollar has been pledged. This does not include contributions that have been made outside the appeal. Donors are being urged to convert pledges into cash.
OCHA has received more than 80 offers of commercial services and pro-bono support from private sector companies and individuals.
All companies that wish to donate funds are urged to use the new UN/business partnership gateway, at http://business.un.org. This function matches offers of support with UN needs.
All humanitarian partners, including donors and recipient agencies, are encouraged to inform FTS of cash and in-kind contributions by sending an email to: [email protected].
