Haiti extremely vulnerable, says UN agency

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – OCHA warns that people in some neighbourhoods of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince are extremely vulnerable, with armed groups continuing to perpetrate coordinated attacks.

Last Friday, on 10 May, the commune of Gressier, south of Port-au-Prince, was attacked and several houses were set on fire. According to local authorities, an unknown number of residents were forced to flee. Our partners are conducting assessments both in Gressier and in nearby areas where people fled.

Since late February, coordinated attacks by armed groups have targeted hospitals, schools, homes, churches, banks and commercial establishments.

There are currently 362,000 internally displaced people – half of them children – in the country, with 160,000 of them in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. According to the International Organization for Migration, between 8 March and 9 April, some 95,000 people fled the capital, 60 percent of to the southern departments.

Despite the volatile situation, humanitarian organizations continue to provide emergency assistance to thousands of people in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other areas of the country.

Since 1 March, the World Food Programme has helped more than 800,000 people across the country through its school feeding, emergency and resilience programmes. It has distributed more than 825,000 meals to over 95,000 displaced people in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan zone.