UNICEF Prepares For Hurricane’s Impact On Haiti

UNICEF Prepares For Hurricane Tomas’ Impact On Haiti

Half a million people likely to be affected

1 November 2010: UNICEF is concerned about the impact on children by the fourth emergency in Haiti this year.

UNICEF is pre-positioning staff and supplies in anticipation of the hurricane which is expected to affect the country this Friday (Nov 5).

The cyclone, Hurricane Tomas, which has left a swath of destruction in Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines over the weekend, is expected to hit the south and west areas of Haiti including some of the areas currently being affected by a cholera outbreak.

The Haitian Government's Department of Civil Protection, which is coordinating the island’s hurricane contingency planning, is forecasting that approximately 500,000 people - about half of them children - will be affected by Tomas which is expected to become a Category 1 hurricane by Friday.

"We’re concerned about the children and families that could be affected by this hurricane,” said UNICEF New Zealand executive director Dennis McKinlay.

“UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) strategy for Hurricane Tomas aims to work with partners to immediately cover gaps in areas which may get cut off during the storm.” In Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, we are ensuring there will be water, sanitation facilities and hygiene facilities at hurricane shelters."

UNICEF and its partners have pre-positioned water, sanitation and hygiene supplies in 10 hubs along the south and western sections of the island which, it is believed, will bear the brunt of the storm.

Haiti is still recovering from a massive earthquake that struck on January 12 in addition to a freak storm which hit the capital in September cause widespread destruction to temporary camps and a cholera outbreak in October.

ENDS

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