January 19, 2010

USAID is providing us with updates as to the Key Developments and Current Situation as they have assessed daily. We will in turn share them with you. Please see the pdf attached for the full update. Key Developments for yesterday are below. As we receive them, we will post for the latest facts and figures.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

 

On January 17, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon visited Haiti to assess humanitarian conditions and meet with U.N. and government officials on the ground. Ban urged coordination among the international community to sustain the increasingly large aid operation and of the huge amount of aid that is pouring into the country

As of 1100 hours local time on January 18, the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART) reported that U.S. urban search and rescue (USAR) teams had rescued approximately 40 individuals from collapsed buildings, including one girl two years of age this morning. On January 17, USAR teams rescued 12 people, including three children between the ages of three and seven. To date, international USAR teams have rescued more than 70 individuals throughout Port-au-Prince, an unprecedented tally for a five-day USAR operation.

International USAR teams have completed reconnaissance in 100 percent of assigned areas in Port-au-Prince; however, search and rescue activities will continue until the Government of Haiti (GoH) decides to cease operations, according to the U.N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team.

On January 18, USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), in coordination with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), facilitated the delivery to Port-au-Prince of 9,600 ten-liter water containers to serve an additional 19,200 people and 7,602 hygiene kits to benefit an additional 38,010 people for two weeks. An airlift containing 300 rolls of plastic sheeting, which will meet the shelter needs of 15,000 people, is scheduled to arrive at 1400 hours local time on January 18.

With USAID/OFDA support through the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is establishing a passenger service from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince to transport relief workers, with two daily flights scheduled to begin on January 18.

USAID-DCHA Haiti-Earthquake Fact Sheet #6