United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Geneva, 12 November 2012): United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ms. Catherine Bragg, today launched the Emergency Revision of the Haiti Consolidated Appeal: Needs Arising from the Impact of Hurricane Sandy jointly with Mr. Jean-Bony Alexandre, Chargé d’Affaires at the Haitian Permanent Mission in Geneva, and Mr. Nigel Fisher, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti.
An additional US$39 million is required to address rising food insecurity and provide shelter, health services and potable water for over a million people. Of this, $22 million is needed to meet the most urgent needs in 2012.

“None of us needs to be reminded of Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters and the heavy human and development toll that recent disasters have taken,” Ms. Bragg said. “We need to continue to support Haiti through these disasters that can easily set back development efforts. Haitians are now suffering from the effects of the same storm that affected so many throughout the Caribbean and the United States.”

Hurricane Sandy hit Haiti on 23 October and left 54 dead and thousands of people homeless and without access basic services after three consecutive days of heavy rains. One and a half million people now face food insecurity, while 2 per cent of children under five in Haiti, who were already food insecure before the Hurricane, are at risk of severe acute malnutrition. The Haitian Government has declared a month-long state of national emergency.

According to Government figures, the agricultural sector has lost a third of its annual production due to Sandy, Tropical Storm Isaac in August, and drought. In addition, Sandy left 27,701 houses destroyed or damaged and some 2,300 people are in hurricane shelters. Sixty-one cholera treatment centers were destroyed as new cholera cases are being reported. “The lives of over a million people are at risk if no actions are taken swiftly,” Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said on 8 November 2012.

“This is a major blow to Haiti’s reconstruction effort, making life for the most vulnerable Haitians even more precarious,” stressed Mr. Fisher, Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti. “In the meantime, international partners’ ability to respond has been reduced by dwindling donor support. Urgent financing to meet both immediate humanitarian needs and recovery efforts is urgently required,” he added.

Haiti suffered a further hit on 9 November when heavy rainfall - not related to Sandy - in the northern city of Cap Haitien, left at least 10 people dead and thousands displaced. The hurricane and rainy season in the region lasts until the end of November and pre-positioned stocks to respond to emergencies have been largely depleted.

For further information, please call:
George Ngwa Anuongong, OCHA Haiti, ngwaanuongong@un.org , Tel. +509 3702 5192
Jens Laerke, OCHA Geneva, laerke@un.org , Tel. + +41 22 917 11 42, Cell: +41 79 472 9750
Amanda Pitt, OCHA New York, pitta@un.org , +1 212 963 4129, Cell +1 917 442 1810
Clare Doyle, OCHA New York, doylecm@un.org, Tel. +1 212 963 5009, Cell +1 646 288 6331

OCHA press releases are available at www.unocha.org or www.reliefweb.int

The mission of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors