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07.10.2016 | Press Release

Emergency Aid After Hurricane Matthew

Welthungerhilfe provides 100,000 Euro

Simone Pott Team Communications

The extent of destruction has become apparent after Hurricane Matthew passed over the Caribbean islands of Haiti and Cuba on Monday. Especially Haiti, a country already depending on aid, has been struck harshly. Welthungerhilfe provides 100,000 Euro as immediate emergency aid and deploys staff members from its emergency response team to support the colleagues in Haiti.

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Clearance activities to make flooded streets and bridges passable again and to rebuild destroyed houses have started. However, the biggest threat will be the imminent food scarcity. “An average of around 80 percent of the harvest has been destroyed in the heavily affected regions in the South and Northwest. The worst fears have been confirmed that the impact is much more dramatic than during the last hurricane Sandy in 2012”, says Mahamadou Issoufou-Wasmeier, Regional Director of Welthungerhilfe in Haiti. According to UN estimates around 350,000 people in Haiti are now dependent on humanitarian aid.

In the Northwest of Haiti, in the region around Jean-Rabel, Welthungerhilfe has started a food distribution to about 6,400 affected people. As a disaster preparedness activity, the food stocks had been stored beforehand to allow a quick emergency response in regions that are difficult to access.

The distribution of hygiene sets containing water purification tablets, soap and others is being prepared in the region of Nippes and Petit-Goâve to prevent a Cholera outbreak. Additionally, warm meals for around 1,500 are being distributed to people in emergency housing.

Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organisations in Germany; politically independent and non-denominational. It is fighting for ‘Zero Hunger by 2030’. Since its establishment, more than 8,500 overseas projects in 70 countries have been supported with 3.27 billion euros. Welthungerhilfe works on the basic principle of empowering people to help themselves: from rapid disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organisations.

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