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Haiti

Haiti: Floods and Tropical Storm Ernesto DREF Bulletin MDRHT001 Update No.1

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The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in 185 countries.

In Brief

This DREF Bulletin is being issued based on the situation described below reflecting the information available at this time. CHF 90,000 (USD 72,137.23 or EUR 56,817.08) was allocated from the Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to respond to the needs in this operation. This operation is expected to be implemented over 3 months, and will be completed by 10 December, 2006; a Final Report will be made available three months after the end of the operation (by 10 March 2007). Unearmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.

This operation is aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".

Global Agenda Goals:

- Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

- Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

- Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.

- Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.

Background and current situation

Tropical Storm Ernesto passed over Haiti's Southern coast on the night of Saturday, 26 August 2006. On the morning of Sunday, 27 August Ernesto became a category 1 hurricane as it started to leave Haitian territory. The very powerful rains that accompanied this system considerably affected the coastal areas of the regions of Sud and Grande Anse, and caused lesser damage in l'Ouest, Les Nippes and l'Artibonite.

Gusty winds and heavy rains reaching 150 to 300 mm - hammered the peninsula and the department of l'Ouest, causing flooding in certain coastal villages of the south-west, the south, Nippes, Grande Anse and the west. The flooding of the Quinte River in Haut-Artibonite, obliged authorities to evacuate communities in Nan Manmye, near Passereine, some 15 kilometres from the city of Gonaives. Lesser rains and winds were observed in Aquin, Cavaillon, Chantal, Arniquet, Saint-Jean du Sud, Ile à Vache and Port Salut.

According to the Haitian National Red Cross Society's (HNRCS) Disaster Management Department, there were five deaths as a result of the storm, six homes have been destroyed and 53 have suffered damages. Trees have been uprooted, a bridge has been destroyed by the flood waters and cattle have been lost. The majority of the rivers located in the southern peninsula had seen a rise in their water level.

Whilst damages were observed throughout most of the departments affected, certain areas have suffered much more than others as a result of this storm, as is the case of Grande Anse and Sud. Because of Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters of this type and the precarious situation in which 90 percent of Haitians live -a storm such as Ernesto is bound to leave behind many affected families.

As of 12 September, most of the families evacuated have now returned to their homes, as roads have been cleared, except for four families who remain in temporary shelters. To date, no information has been received regarding assistance to families affected by Ernesto.

Map: Caribbean: Tropical storm Ernesto - Situation map

For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:

In Haiti: Haitian National Red Cross Society, Dr. Michaèle Amédée Gédéon, President, Port-au- Prince; email croroha@haitworld.com, phone (509) 510-9813, fax (509) 223-1054.

In Haiti: Jean Pierre Givel, Head of Delegation, Port au Prince; email jp.givel@ifrc.org, phone (509) 513-5067, fax (509) 221-8633.

In Panama: Leon Prop, Head of Regional Delegation, Panama; email leon.prop@ifrc.org, phone (507) 317-1300, fax (507) 317-1304.

In Panama: Stephen McAndrew, Coordinator of the Federation's Pan American Disaster Response Unit, Panama; email stephen.mcandrew@ifrc.org, phone (507) 316-1001, fax (507) 316-1082.

In Geneva: Luis Luna, Federation Regional Officer, Americas Department, Geneva; email luis.luna@ifrc.org, phone (41)22-730-4274, fax (41)22-733-0395.

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief and is committed to the Humanitarian

For longer-term programmes in this or other countries or regions, please refer to the Federationìs Annual Appeal. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for national society profiles, please also access the Federationìs website at http://www.ifrc.org

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