14 January 2010

Haiti earthquake: UNA-UK Chair calls on the UK government to help relief effort

Speaking yesterday in the House of Lords, UNA-UK Chair Lord Hannay urged the UK government to commit to making a substantial contribution to the UN flash appeal for Haiti, expected to be launched within the next few days. Drawing attention to the existing large UN peace operation in Haiti, Lord Hannay said that the UN is "well-placed to help effectively with co-ordination and that it is therefore important that we work closely with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs".

Click here for Lord Hannay's statement on Haiti in the House of Lords

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries, on 12 January. While the full scale of devastation is still unknown, buildings and basic services in capital Port-au-Prince have collapsed and the UN estimates that about one-third of Haiti's 9-million strong population has been affected by the disaster.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the crisis rivals, if not exceeds, the damage wrought by a series of hurricanes that devastated the country in 2008.

The UN itself has suffered severe losses. The Christopher Hotel, which houses the its Haitian headquarters, along with other buildings hosting the world body, have collapsed, leaving some 150 staff members unaccounted for. At least 16 peacekeepers - from Argentina, Brazil, Chad and Jordan - died in the quake, and officials believe the number of fatalities will rise in the coming days. MINUSTAH, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, was set up in 2004 and currently has over 9,000 military and police personnel and nearly 2,000 civilian staff. Around 3,000 of the troops are in Port-au-Prince and they are assisting in relief efforts. UNA-UK has sent a letter of condolence for the loss of UN staff members to the Secretary-General.

Ban has ordered US$10 million to be released from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to kick-start humanitarian relief efforts.

Following the House of Lords debate, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) today announced that it would support humanitarian relief work in Haiti with a US$10 million donation, to be divided between a number of international agencies and appeals dictated by an ongoing assessment of need on the ground. It also announced that a further donation will be made once the UN announces its flash appeal.

UK search and rescue experts and a DFID humanitarian assessment team arrived in Haiti today.

Click here to donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal

Click here to read updates from UN News and from DFID

UPDATES:
18 January 2010: Click here to read about the UK goverment's commitment to treble Haiti aid to $30m
18 January 2010: Click here to read the UN Secretary-General's statement on deaths of 3 top UN officials

15 January 2010: Click here to read a letter from UNA-UK to the UN Secretary-General

20 January 2010: Strong aftershock shakes Haiti, week after earthquake