The problems that affected Haiti before Tuesday’s earthquake are expected to make aid efforts even more difficult, reports Reuters. Prior to Tuesday, the World Food Program (WFP) had been feed 2 million of Haiti’s 9 million population, or over 22%.
“The country has a long history of insecurity and violence. One of the major drug transit points from South America to the United States, Haiti is awash with guns and gangs. Kidnappings and murder are a part of life.
‘Security is an issue in Haiti even at the best of times,’ said Gregory Barrow, WFP spokesman in Rome. ‘But a devastating earthquake, when people have little access to water, shelter and food, makes an insecure situation even more insecure.”‘
A Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping force, which had already been in place to stabilize Haiti following riots sparked by food prices in 2008, has taken on the added task of preventing looting of food from aid depots and supermarkets.
Despite the fact that 11 Brazilian peacekeepers were killed during the earthquake, Brazil has not backed down from the crisis. Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva pledged $10 million in aid, as well as the establishment of “a shuttle of military aircraft” to deliver urgently needed food, water and medicine.
Lula da Silva released a statement saying that he was “deeply dismayed with the tragedy that occurred in Haiti, with which we feel a strong fraternal connection by reason of the presence of the peacekeeping force led by Brazil…”
Posted by Michael Lucivero.