Israel to dispatch aid to earthquake-stricken Haiti
Israel will deliver “immediate humanitarian support” to Haiti after it was hit by a powerful earthquake, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced.
Members of the IsraAID Nepal team prepare to depart for Kerala, India, on Aug. 21, 2018. Credit: Courtesy.
“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti and we pray for a speedy recovery for all those injured. Israel stands with Haiti,” Lapid stated Sunday.
Haiti was shaken on Saturday by a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake that left more some 1,300 dead and about 5,700 more injured in the country’s southwest, especially around the city of Les Cayes.
IsraAID’s emergency response team is on its way to Haiti and includes Haitian former staff members from its previous work on the Caribbean island. They will be joined by Israeli and international team members in the coming days.
The earthquake is the third major disaster that IsraAID is responding to in the country, following the 2010 earthquake and the 2016 Hurricane Matthew.
The team will distribute basic relief items and assess immediate needs on the ground, focusing on relief distributions, water, sanitation and hygiene, and psychological first aid and mental health support. Communities recovering from this disaster are now threatened by Tropical Storm Grace, which is expected to bring heavy rains and possible flooding and mudslides on Monday.
In 2010, an IDF delegation, which was sent to Port-au-Prince, after the earthquake saved many people from the ruins and set up field hospitals. Israeli medical personnel treated more than 1,110 patients, completed 319 successful surgeries, and delivered 16 babies, including three caesarian sections.
