FROM THE FIELD: Bringing aid to Haiti, a country at breaking point

The community of Les Cayes was destroyed when a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti.
© WFP/Marianela González
The community of Les Cayes was destroyed when a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti.
  • UN News

Humanitarian workers supporting relief efforts in Haiti following the devastation caused by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, are contending with widespread insecurity, including gang violence, as well as logistical challenges, as they try to reach hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people.

The earthquake in August came as the country was already reeling from years of underdevelopment and a political crisis, stemming from the assassination in early July, of President Jovenel Moïse.

A woman attends to her four-year-old son who was injured in the Haiti earthquake in August 2021.
© WFP/Marianela González | A woman attends to her four-year-old son who was injured in the Haiti earthquake in August 2021.​

Some 4.4 million people, nearly 40 per cent of the population, are facing acute food insecurity according to the UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA.

However, funding is urgently needed, and the UN has launched an appeal for $187.3 million, to help people to start rebuilding their lives.

Find out more here about the UN’s humanitarian current work in Haiti.

© UN News (2021) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: UN News