SETTING UP PREMIÈRE URGENCE INTERNATIONALE’S FIRST WORK IN HAITI
Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 hurricane on a scale with a highest category of 5 (1), with a mean wind speed of 215km/h, hit Haiti with its full force on 4th October 2016, severely affecting the Sud, Nippes and Grande Anse departments. While the hurricane caused the death of 546 people (2), OCHA estimates that 2.1 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, of which 806,000 need urgent assistance immediately. Damage to property has been immense, floods have been devastating and many people are fleeing from the affected areas.
In the Grande Anse department, almost all the houses were torn down in the hurricane’s path, 90% of harvests were severely damaged, and health infrastructures were destroyed.
Access to food, safe drinking water and to sanitation are the major issues with this crisis in the short term, considering that the latter two drastically increase the risk of a significant rise in cholera cases. More than 2271 new cases (3) have already been identified in the Grande Anse department.
In this context, an emergency Première Urgence Internationale team has been deployed in Haiti to evaluate the major needs, and to bring emergency aid, in coordination with the NGOs already at work there, as well as United Nations agencies and the Haitian authorities. After several coordination meetings, the team has decided to focus on the Grande Anse department, where needs remain extremely significant in the absence of humanitarian stakeholders in the region.
After evaluation, Première Urgence Internationale has decided to focus its work on access to care for the people in the affected areas, and epidemic prevention. With this in mind, during the next three months, the primary health care facilities will be rebuilt in the Beaumont and Duchity communes (in the Grande Anse department) so they can reopen, and they will be restocked with essential supplies (equipment and medicines).
The areas targeted by the organisation are in the Pestel and Beaumont communes, in the Grande Anse department, where there is no humanitarian aid at present. The emergency response implemented by Première Urgence Internationale has been made possible thanks to the support of the Sanofi Espoir foundation.
(1) – Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale
(2) – OCHA report dated 19th October. 128 were still reported as missing
(3) – OCHA report dated 22nd October 2016