Haiti Earthquake: Disaster response is the most challenging the UN “has ever faced in its history”
United Nations, New York, 24 February 2010 – A United Nations top official in Haiti said today (24 February) that the disaster response to the 12 January earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nations capital of Port-au-Prince has been the most challenging the organization has ever faced in its history.
The Acting Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Anthony Banbury, who as the Asia Regional Director for the World Food Programme had to deal with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, told journalists that as devastating and terrible as those tragedies were, the complexity and scale of response required in Haiti exceeds those and anything the UN has ever faced.
Banbury pointed out that the soon-to-arrive rainy season will pose a grave challenge and that not all of the one million people in need of shelter and sanitation will receive proper assistance by that point.
He said that there will be flooding, there will be discomfort, misery, and thats not avoidable at this stage.
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The MINUSTAH official stressed that the mission was well prepared for hurricanes, public unrest and landslides with contingency plans and quick reaction forces in place but, never planned for such a unique set of circumstances.
More than 66,000 families (330,000 people) have received emergency shelter materials, about 30 per cent of the estimated need. More than 250,000 tarpaulins and tents are in the pipeline and will be distributed immediately upon arrival, according to the latest report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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