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Haiti

IOM Haiti responds quickly as storm tears through Corail camp

IOM and its humanitarian partners in Haiti were quickly on the scene after a heavy storm struck Corail camp in the hills above Port au Prince on Monday afternoon.

Flying debris from the storm caused six people to be injured and damaged or destroyed 344 tents, forcing around 1,700 people to seek emergency shelter overnight.

The Corail camp is home to some 7,000 people who were displaced by the January 2010 earthquake. They live in 1,300 family sized tents while an urgent programme is underway to replace their tents with durable transitional shelters made of wood with tin roofs.

As the summer storm blasted through the campsite at 4 PM yesterday, six people were left injured by flying tent poles and were quickly taken to nearby Croix de Bouquet hospital for treatment.

An assessment team including IOM Camp Management, MINUSTAH UN police and Haitian national police was at the location 1 hour after the storm had passed. They found the camp in considerable disarray, with anxious residents concerned for their safety and seeking shelter. As residents raised their voices and demanded help, IOM's team of community mobilizers helped calm tempers and reassure people that help was on the way.

Those whose tents had been destroyed by the storm were provided with emergency shelter overnight in a World Vision hall. A team of 10 IOM staff were on hand to help while other colleagues began collecting 344 tents, 400 tarps, rope and other essential non-food items (NFIs). Replacement tents were distributed to the IDPs at 11:00am this morning.

World Vision, which is already building transitional shelters in Corail, donated 100 of the tents and IOM obtained a further 244 through the Shelter cluster and MSF Holland. IOM helped transport the tents to Corail and assisted the American Refugee Committee camp managers distributing the tents while making further assessments of the damage.

Security for the operation was provided by UNPOL and ambulance and military escorts were also sent to help maintain order.

This incident highlights the need to step up disaster preparedness measures across the board as more as the hurricane season gets into full swing.

Photos of the scene at Camp Corail can be viewed on the IOM Haiti Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/haitilense2010/sets/72157624361795369/show/ .

For further information, please contact Leonard Doyle, Media and Communication Officer IOM Haiti, Tel: + 509 3702 5066, E-mail: ldoyle@iom.int