The USA temporarily suspends the deportation of Haitians
Last week, following the devastating passage of hurricane Matthew, the U.S. government announced that it would temporarily suspend its decision to deport illegal Haitian migrants living in the U.S. http://www.haitilibre.com/article-18700-haiti-flash-usa-reprise-des-deportations-regu lieres-vers-haiti.html
Jeh Johnson, the American Secretary of Internal Security, declared while in Mexico, following a meeting with Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, the Secretary of the Interior of Mexico, "We shall face this situation, address it, and be compassionate to the distress of the Haitian people following the hurricane." He emphasized that after this crisis, the American Government intended to return to its decision to resume deportations.
For his part, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong declared that the Haitian migrants had been a topic of discussions with Johnson. He added that it was Mexico’s responsibility to try to improve their living conditions, while they stayed there, hoping that the United States proceeds with processing about 75 Haitian migrants a day at the border post of San Ysidro, in San Diego, to speed things up.
Matthew: a delegation of the Diaspora in Haiti
A delegation of Haïtian-American officials, made up of North Miami Mayor Dr. Smith Joseph; North Miami Councilman Alix Désulmé; State Representative Al Jacquet; North Miami Police Chief Gary Eugène, and Marc E. Jeudy, Coordinator of the delegation, traveled to Haiti to investigate and inquire about the needs of the victims of Hurricane Matthew.
A starved population attacks trucks with humanitarian aid
Anger is rising among the desperate victims of Hurricane Matthew who lost everything. In search of food in the rumble, they are pleading that they are hungry and that the humanitarian aid is taking too long to arrive. Furious, they criticize the government for its lack of coordination in distributing food and water to the population. In several municipalities last week, it was reported that residents had blocked streets to force trucks carrying relief supplies to stop and help them.
Others did not hesitate to throw stones and bottles at trucks carrying humanitarian aid. Last week, in Jeremie, residents set up a barricade of tree trunks, near a United Nations base. This forced a humanitarian convoy of 3 trucks to stop, blue berets had to leave their vehicle to protect themselves from the fury of the population. Scenes of violence and plunder are likely to repeat themselves considering the large number of people in need of urgent humanitarian aid.
According to the Administration of Disaster and Emergency Services, those in need number 1,410,774.
Among these people, more 120,000 families have had their homes destroyed or damaged. The number of people staying temporarily in shelters continues to increase in the two departments that were most affected, and exceeds 160,000.
"Hurricane Matthew hit us really hard, but we are going to get back up ", declared François Anick Joseph, Secretary of the Interior. He advised that the priority of the Government and its national and international partners, including the Haitian Civil society, is to respond to the urgent need for water, food and medicine for the populations of the affected areas, which must be quickly cleaned up, in order to transition to the rehabilitation phase.
UN Chief in Haiti Gets Glimpse of Matthew's Destruction
By DAVID MCFADDEN AND BEN FINLEY, ASSOCIATED PRESSPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Oct 15, 2016
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited victims of devastating Hurricane Matthew on Saturday, saying the destruction wrought by the storm was "heartbreaking," and he renewed a pledge to help the nation cope with a deadly scourge of cholera that was introduced by U.N. peacekeepers.
Ban's brief visit came as victims of the storm continued to express frustration — sometimes violently — at delays in aid about a week-and-a-half since Matthew hit southwest Haiti with 145 mph (235 kph) winds, killing at least 546 people and demolishing or damaging tens of thousands of homes.
"I met so many displaced persons, young people, women who were pregnant and sick people. It was heartbreaking," he said, describing his tour of an emergency shelter in the town of Les Cayes packed with families whose homes were destroyed.
Shortly before Ban's helicopter was due to land in Les Cayes, a clash broke out between rock-throwing residents and peacekeepers at a U.N. base there. Roughly 100 frustrated residents began hurling rocks when trucks ferrying food aid arrived. Haitian police officers and U.N. peacekeepers scattered the group with tear gas. Calm was restored as Ban's helicopter approached.
In recent days, Associated Press reporters have observed a number of skirmishes between Haitians in hard-hit areas seeking emergency aid distributed by international and local organizations.
At the close of his roughly 4 ? hour stop in Haiti, Ban told reporters at Port-au-Prince's airport that a cholera-focused trust fund announced in recent weeks was part of the U.N.'s "new approach" to helping Haitian families who lost loved ones since the waterborne disease was introduced here in October 2010 — an outbreak that has been aggravated by the hurricane.
The U.N. said the fund is designed to help Haiti overcome cholera and build stronger water, sanitation and health systems.
There's long been ample evidence that cholera was introduced to the nation's biggest river by inadequately treated sewage from a U.N. peacekeeping base about 10 months after Haiti's devastating earthquake.
But the U.N. only acknowledged in August, following a leaked internal report, that it played a role in introducing cholera to Haiti and vowed to aid victims in the impoverished Caribbean nation, which has experienced the worst outbreak of the disease in recent history. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that that "the United Nations has a moral responsibility to the victims."
U.N. officials at one point said they were seeking about $181 million for the special fund, but Ban mentioned no figures Saturday as he vowed to help the families of victims and "most of all prevent and stop this cholera epidemic" by mobilizing more U.N. resources. He expressed disappointment, however, that international funding to fight cholera in Haiti and rebuild after Matthew is so far falling far short.
"I know that the world economic situation is not favorable, and I know that there is some donor fatigue by certain countries," he told reporters at the close of his brief visit.
Insurance: the CCRIF will pay more than 20 million in compensations to Haiti
The CCRIF SPC (formerly Disaster Caribbean Risk Insurance Facility) is getting ready to make a payment to the Haitian Government following the passage of Hurricane Matthew, which activated the tropical hurricane insurance in Haiti. On the basis of preliminary calculations, Haiti will receive a little more than 20 million US dollars, the biggest payment ever made by the CCRIF. It was confirmed by Milo Pearson, the President of the CCRIF, during the annual meeting IMF/GROUP of the World Bank.
It should be noted that during the last four years, the insurance premiums of Haiti were paid generously by the Caribbean Development Bank. Haiti had been paid by the CDB and the Government of Canada and Canadian government.
This payment will be the second payment to Haiti by the CCRIF. In 2010, following the devastating earthquake, the CCRIF made a payment to the Government of Haiti of 7.7 millions, based on the terms of its earthquake insurance. This payment represented the first direct financial support Haiti received at that time. The Haitian government used the funds from the CCRIF to cover the salary of key emergency staff, and to keep the government operating.
Matthew-Cholera: one million vaccines will soon arrive in Haiti
The representative of the Pan-American and world organizations of the health (OPS / WHO) confirmed the arrival of a million vaccines against cholera in the next few days.
According to Dr. Jean Luc Poncelet, these vaccines will be distributed according to a plan developed by the Ministry of Health, which has taken key zones into account.
However the representative of the OPS / WHO explained that the vaccines will only be effective if the population agrees to protect itself by using purified water and by respecting hygiene standards.
The representative also explained that a multinational team was deployed in 3 departments, including the South and Grande Anse, to support the humanitarian operations to restore the capacity of health systems and services.
Meanwhile, 2,000 kits containing hydration solutions, among other things, were distributed, along with special beds.