Haiti - update 3 (19 Jan '10)

General:
I've seen looting is going on, people are out in the street, especially young people looking for food jobs, or anything to get back to their family with. There is a severe shortage of food in the city; the market is empty and not even one restaurant is available. The private sector is not active yet due to the lack of security. We expect the private sector will be activated and the market will be functioning as soon as the security improves.

Electricity: The city still sinking in the dark at night, the government seems reluctant to repair the power station and get the electric power back, in order to avoid any further damage as a result of any further earthquake or tremor/ aftershock.

Water: still severely under supplied due to the damages to the water sources. People get their water either from a hand pump or purchased water trucking. Some NGOs are distributing water via trucking.

Shelter: I haven’t seen any tents having been erected so far, probably due to bottle necks in distribution? People still live in the street in the middle of the road, in the public parks or close to their houses, in makeshift huts made of cloths. There is a huge need for tents and shelter materials. The Government is planning a huge settlement out of the city for 70,000 affected persons or perhaps even much more. They will be concentrated in camps in order for service providers to reach them, so one of the ideas that we are considering is to provide emergency tents to those settlements.

Security: this remain one of the biggest challenges in the city, groups of American army fully dressed in army armour are patrolling the streets now to keep law and order under control (this is exactly as we used to see in Baghdad on the TV). Yesterday some armed vehicles from the UN peacekeepers started patrolling as well. No one can move freely in the city after dark.

Fuel: a severe shortage of fuel is affecting life here to a certain extent. People are queuing long hours to get their cars filled.

Prices: prices of all commodities are rising to an alarming level, as most of the goods come from neighbouring countries, and the life supply line have been disrupted by the quake and the (lack of) security.

Programme: a quick rapid assessment has been conducted in two areas where a severe need for clean water has been identified. A daily trucking will be arranged starting today, where a large number of IDPs will benefit from.

Our Camp: we still live in a tent in the UN camp. We are looking forward to move out so that we can have better facilities, especially access to a shower and washing clothes and wash facility ....etc. It seems to me it is a bit early for this move at the moment to be feasible. We have been advised not to move out now due to the lack of security and poor services outside, so we are assessing the situation on a daily basis and will make a move as soon as we get better option.

Media and communication: we hade done several interviews yesterday, including BBC Arabic TV, Aljazeera English TV, Islamic Channel Radio UK.

All the best for the rest.