"Haitians had already been struggling with the aftermath of years of internal strife and of last year’s tropical storms Dean and Noel, and more recently with rising food prices – this calamity just adds to their heavy burden," said Rob Drouen, head of the ICRC’s delegation in Haiti.

Two ICRC medical staff, a water and sanitation engineer, three field staff and a number of drivers and cars have been seconded to Haitian Red Cross and Federation assessment and rescue teams assisting storm-affected people in Port-au-Prince, around Gonaïves and in the south of the country.

Red Cross staff have continued to take wounded and sick people to safer areas in Cité Soleil and Martissant, two of the largest shantytowns of Port-au-Prince. Evacuations are also under way in Cabaret, a town between Port-au-Prince and Gonaïves that has been hard hit by the continuing rainfall, with thousands of homes covered by mud and tens of thousands of people displaced.

Together with the Haitian Red Cross, the ICRC has handed out plastic sheeting, jerrycans, kitchen sets, sleeping mats and soap to some 300 families housed in temporary shelters in Cité Soleil and Martissant. It has also delivered medical supplies to a clinic in Cabaret.

The ICRC has been supporting the Haitian Red Cross in its efforts to reunite members of families that have been thrust apart by the disaster. The organization is currently looking after three children requiring medical treatment who are separated from their parents. It is attempting to place them back in the care of other family members. The Haitian Red Cross and the ICRC are also considering how best to help the authorities and families to identify and safely bury dead bodies. They have provided 200 body bags for Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium (for use in Gonaïves), 100 bags for the Haitian Red Cross (all over the country), and 300 bags for the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (Cabaret/Gonaïves).