Catholic Relief Services is turning a Port-au-Prince golf course into one of the first formal camps for the multitudes of displaced people in the Haitian capital.
With security provided by unarmed soldiers from the U.S. Army, CRS began registering people and handing out buckets with food, water and hygiene supplies to a patient crowd that climbed to a high point on the golf course to receive the aid, CRS reports.
Some 20,000 people have been spending their days at the Petionville Club golf course, a number that swelled to 50,000 at night. United Nations personnel decided that this informal situation should be made into a formal camp and asked CRS, which is headquartered nearby and had already carried out some small distributions at the site, to take the lead. Registration and more substantial distributions of aid began Tuesday, a week after the earthquake devastated this region of Haiti.
"We are grateful to the 82nd Airborne for providing security," said Annemarie Reilly, CRS Vice President for Overseas Operations. "This camp at Petionville will provide thousands of Haitians with the relief they so desperately need."
This work goes on as additional CRS personnel arrive in Haiti-supplementing the permanent staff of 300-and supplies continue to come in by air, sea and land. Five CRS trucks from the neighboring Dominican Republic brought in enough food January 17 to feed 2,500 people for several days, as well as hygiene kits and plastic sheeting for shelter. CRS has been distributing these materials, along with food and other supplies at several informal camps and other places where people have gathered after the earthquake.
CRS staff are also working to get the 120 containers of USAID Food for Peace supplies-grains and vegetable oil-from the port so they can be distributed. CRS unloaded the 2,100 metric tons of food-1,500 designated for CRS-that was on its way to Haiti when the earthquake hit. The ship used the one berth still operable in the heavily-damaged port. But damage to Port-au-Prince's roads makes further movement difficult.
CRS is working with the U.S. military on transport problems. The food will eventually be used in the large camps for survivors, such as the one CRS is setting up at the Petionville Club golf course.
All of this work is part of a $25 million commitment from CRS for this disaster. To date, CRS has raised $16.5 million in cash and commitments, including a $1 million disaster response donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $225,000 from the New York Yankees baseball team.
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Haiti Golf Course Tranformed into Relief Camp (CRS)
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