MaximsNewsNetwork: HAITI: AID DELIVERY TO JACMEL in THE SOUTH (U.N. MINUSTAH)

MaximsNewsNetwork: 29 January 2010: - UN MINUSTAH - Port-au-Prince, Haiti - UN Deputy Special Representative in Haiti, Anthony Banbury, visited Jacmel on Thursday (28 Jan) in southern Haiti where road destruction had previously hampered aid delivery.




Banbury, who recently replaced the late Luiz Carlos da Costa after he had died in the earthquake, surveyed the destruction and humanitarian situation on the ground as well as met with the local government officials.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Banbury, Acting Principal Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary General in Haiti:
"The deputy mayor of Jacmel was recounting how in this house here, there were two people trapped after the earthquake, but alive. But they didn't have any heavy equipment, so they couldn't get them out. And they died."

By road, Jacmel, the fourth largest city in Haiti, is two and half hours away from Port-au-Prince. The road to the city, however, has been so damaged that the trip today lasts several hours delaying search and rescue teams and aid delivery.

Jacmels main hospital was destroyed by the earthquake and many patients are turning up with untreated wounds sustained on 12 January as medical teams setup tents outside the ruined hospital to treat hundreds of patients a day in this coastal city.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Banbury, Acting Principal Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary General in Haiti:
"Twenty thousand people without shelter. Children who have been made orphans. The hospital destroyed, and lacking all kinds of medicines, not able to carry out operations. And we talked to one elderly woman whos left arm had been amputated. So those kinds of things really fill you with despair."

Humanitarian agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP) had a hard time accessing the city because of the road conditions but have now setup 33 distribution centers in the area.

Yesterday, WFP reported that delivered over 20,000 food rations in the city.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Banbury, Acting Principal Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary General in Haiti:
"The UN organizations are doing their work. The World Food Program is feeding children every day here. We just visited a site where hot meals are being given to the children. Thirty-three sites in the city, 24,000 hot meals a day."

The UN reported that water distribution is currently expanding outside Port-au-Prince and into cities like Jacmel and Leogane. ................................................................................­.............................. ( UNITED NATIONS STABILIZATION MISSION IN HAITI: MINUSTAH ) ................................................................................­................................ MaximsNewsNetwork:
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• late Luiz Carlos da Costa