DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR REVIEWS HUMANITARIAN ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN HAITI

(Port-au-Prince/New York, 21 October 2010): Following a three-day visit to Haiti to take stock of the ongoing humanitarian response to the 12 January earthquake, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Catherine Bragg said aid agencies had accomplished much but stressed that aid operations would need to continue through 2011.

"We can be proud of what the humanitarian community has accomplished, together with the Haitian people and the Government. The humanitarian objective - to provide live-saving aid - has been met", Ms. Bragg said.

Every day, over 6,000 cubic metres of water are delivered to 1.1 million people. Widespread malnutrition has been avoided. Over the last 10 months, 4.3 million people have received food rations, and over 1.5 million people have been given emergency shelter.

During the visit, Ms. Bragg met with Government officials, local authorities and aid workers from camp committee organizations, local and international non-governmental organizations, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator Nigel Fisher, and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti Edmond Mulet. She also met some of the 1.3 Haitians still living in camps for the displaced.

In the four camps she visited in and around Port-au-Prince, Ms. Bragg saw first hand the extremely difficult conditions residents are still living in. At the Mais Gate and Place Sainte Rose camps, she witnessed overcrowded sites, the extreme heat inside shelters, and the difficulties many Haitians are facing in making a living.

"This situation is not acceptable," Ms. Bragg said. "I admire the strength and courage of the Haitian people living in these conditions, and pledge that we will continue to do everything possible to help," she added.

At the Tabarre Issa and Montpellier sites - often cited as model camps - Ms. Bragg saw what it means for families to be able to move into much-improved "transitional shelters". Some 17,200 transitional shelters have been completed in Haiti to accommodate 80,000 people and an additional 15,500 are about to be set up.

Given the huge number of Haitians still living in poor conditions - not only in camps, but also in the remains of their homes - and the urgent need for continued assistance like food, water, sanitation and healthcare, Ms. Bragg emphasized that a sizable aid operation will be needed well into 2011.

Ms. Bragg also stressed the importance of accelerating the early recovery efforts. "Only then can an exit strategy for humanitarian action be envisaged. This is why it has to happen as soon as possible - so that people can leave the camps and return to their homes and communities."

For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1917 892

1679, bunker@un.org; Jessica DuPlessis, OCHA-Haiti, +509 3485 7964, duplessis@un.org;

Elisabeth Byrs OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570, byrs@un.org.

OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.

For more information about CERF, please see http://cerf.un.org