HAITI EARTHQUAKE

ACTION AID

At 16:53 local time on Tuesday 12 January 2010 a catastrophic earthquake measuring 7.0 rocked Haiti just west of the capital Port-au-Prince.

It is believed that 3 million people will be affected by the earthquake with at least 200,000 fatalities. Aid for those who have survived is desperate.

When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water."

DEC agencies to give cash to survivors

Member agencies of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) are starting to give cash to earthquake survivors in Haiti to buy much-needed supplies and boost the crippled economy.

Assessment teams from Oxfam have discovered there is enough food being produced in Haiti but hundreds of thousands of people left homeless have no money to buy it. Injecting cash into the local market will allow Haitians to buy Haitian-grown produce, giving a vital boost to the country’s economy.

The move to distribute cash is intended to complement the large-scale food distributions currently being organised by the World Food Programme.

Prospery Raymond, Haiti country manager for Christian Aid, said: “If we just hand out food that has come in from abroad, local farmers will not be able to sell their food and that will create a fresh problem for the farmers.”

DEC aid agencies say distributing cash rather than food parcels alone helps ensure that families get exactly what they need, and nothing goes to waste. Putting choice in their hands also restores dignity and sense of self-reliance after weeks of dependence on the aid community.

Full story at the DEC website - click here.

BRITISH RED CROSS

Benjamin Franklin