The American Red Cross has spent or committed nearly $78 million to meet the most urgent needs of earthquake survivors.Thankfully, the humanitarian aid pipeline is opening wider and wider and logistical problems are getting smaller and smaller, but the needs in Haiti are still immense. Red Cross teams are on the ground assessing ways to not only meet the immediate needs but also provide long-term recovery assistance, such as restarting the local market economy and addressing housing needs.
- Four Red Cross warehouses (two in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and two in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) are open and operating at full capacity.
- The Red Cross is now producing 1 million liters of water per day, enough for 185,000 people to receive 5.4 liters per person per day. In addition, Red Cross teams are working to scale up latrine construction as quickly as possible.
- To date, Red Cross distributions of food and relief items (blankets, kitchen sets, hygiene kits, buckets, water containers, laundry soap/detergent, and mosquito nets) have reached nearly 20,000 families (or 100,000 people).
- To date, more than 64 flights carrying Red Cross aid from around the world have arrived in Santo Domingo and Haiti.
- Shelter remains an urgent need. The Red Cross is working to provide a range of immediate shelter assistance, and we also are assessing needs and developing a strategy to meet long-term housing reconstruction needs.
The Red Cross is also working to help survivors with needed health care to address community health needs and the emerging threat of the spread of infectious disease.
- A major vaccination program will begin this Friday to vaccinate 150,000 children, ages 0 – 7, against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus. Local and international Red Cross teams will join UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) to visit settlements throughout the city to vaccinate children. Along with vaccinations, the Red Cross will be teaching basic health skills, such as proper hand washing, waste disposal and safe food and water storage. Red Cross emotional support teams will also be on hand to help children with their emotional trauma caused by the earthquake.
- At the combined six Red Cross health facilities, an average of 1,200 patients are being treated per day
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