UNITED NATIONS, CMC – The United Nations on Wednesday said its agencies are reaching Haitians in the besieged capital of Port-au-Prince and other areas amid ongoing gang violence that continues to ravage the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state.
In providing an update on the situation in Haiti, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists that the World Food Program (WFP) distributed close to 10,000 hot meals on Monday and Tuesday to about 5,000 people displaced in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
Haq said the UN agency transitioned from hot meal distributions to cash-based transfers for the displaced.
“So far, more than 37,000 people have received cash. In the coming weeks, WFP is planning to provide cash assistance to over 95,000 displaced people,” the deputy spokesperson said.
He said WFP continued food distributions in Cité Soleil and that more than 65,000 people have received food since last Friday. The agency’s goal is to reach 95,000 people by the end of this week.
Haq said WFP has reached 195,000 school children throughout Haiti as part of its school meal program.
Following needs assessments in Gressier, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, after violent incidents, he said WFP plans to begin hot meal distributions in this community on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Haq said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) distributed water to two sites hosting displaced people and provided health services through a mobile clinic in one site in Port-au-Prince.
On Monday, the UN Humanitarian Affairs office, OCHA, reported that aid organizations continue providing emergency assistance to thousands across Port-au-Prince amid ongoing gang activity.
OCHA warned that some residents are “extremely vulnerable, with armed groups continuing to perpetrate coordinated attacks.”
On Friday, OCHA said the commune of Gressier, south of Port-au-Prince, was attacked, and several houses were set on fire, forcing an unknown number of people to flee.
OCHA said that humanitarian partners are conducting assessments in Gressier and nearby areas where people fled.
Currently, it says some 362,000 people are displaced in Haiti, half of them children, with 160,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
IOM said that, from March 8 through April 9, some 95,000 people fled the capital, 60 percent of them to the southern departments.
“Humanitarians remain steadfast in their commitment to assist the Haitian people,” OCHA said.
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