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Haiti needs food, financial assistance to recover from hurricane

07 November 2012 00:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN humanitarian agencies said on Tuesday that both food and financial assistance are needed to help Haiti recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, APA reports.

Martin Nesirky, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said at a daily news briefing that the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there has already been a small rise in cholera infection cases in Haiti after last weekâ€™s heavy rainfall brought by Sandy, which has caused colossal damage to Haitiâ€™s crops, land, livestock, fisheries and rural infrastructures.

The storm has also left more than 600,000 Haitians at risk of food and nutrition insecurity, according to Nesirky.

The World Food Program (WFP) has been providing an immediate assistance of high energy biscuits to about 13,000 people in temporary shelters in the national capital of Port-au-Prince and other places across Haiti. WFP has also coordinated with the Haitian government to begin distribution of a 21-day food ration to 100,000 people living in affected areas.

WFP is still pleading to the international community for 20 million U.S. dollars to fund food assistance for some 425,000 people, said Nesirky.

"The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the government of Haiti are also seeking 74 million dollars over the next 12 months to help rehabilitate the agricultural sector," said the spokesman.

Haiti is still struggling to recover from the massive earthquake in 2010 that leveled much of the capital, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving many more homeless.