Latin American Nations Begin Sending Humanitarian Aid to Haiti

Multiple international organizations and Latin American countries have organized shipments of aid and humanitarian assistance to help the people of Haiti after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 1,300 people and injured 5,700.

On the other hand, weather forecasts announce the arrival of a tropical depression, Grace, to the areas affected by the earthquake, resulting in heavy rains.

RELATED:

Haiti: Les Cayes Hospital Is Overcrowded With Injured People

Between 10 and 18 cm of rain is expected on the island. Roads are already damaged by landslides and heavy rainfall, which could further hamper the delivery of aid.

In the midst of the deep crisis in which the country is immersed, different organizations and governments have supported flights and humanitarian deliveries to the earthquake victims. The international community has collaborated since the first reports.

One of the first countries to react was Venezuela, which opened a humanitarian bridge to Port-au-Prince by sending the first plane with aid. 

The Simón Bolívar aircraft, belonging to the state-owned airline Conviasa, carried 30 tons of drinking water, food, and medicines to the Caribbean nation as an immediate response to the disaster.

President Nicolás Maduro expressed his solidarity with the Haitian people, stating: "we are going to support with everything we know how to do in Civil Protection and with everything we can. Let's coordinate at all possible levels."

Mexican President Andrés López Obrador, who had announced the sending of humanitarian aid to Haiti, was another of the presidents who joined in this effort.

Regarding the Haitian situation, he stated that it is a "very poor country, with political problems; the president has just been assassinated, it is a situation of instability. We need to apply the criterion of universal fraternity, of humanism, to be in solidarity with the whole world."

The Ministry of National Defense of Mexico confirmed the arrival of two Hercules airplanes to Haitian territory, with 11.5 tons of medicines and food. Of these, 1.5 tons of powdered milk and 2.5 tons of bottled water.

Another Navy aircraft is expected to arrive in Port-au-Prince with a cargo of 6.5 tons of food, cots, blankets, wheelbarrows and shovels.

" Venezuela sends the first shipment of 30 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti."

Chile and the Dominican Republic also made humanitarian deliveries. The latter sent 10,000 rations of food and medicines by sea through boats leaving from Cabo Rojo and Manzanillo as informed by the local government.

Chile sent a plane with 16 tons of medicines, sanitary articles, water, and food. President Sebastián Piñera expressed that Chile "knows the great suffering and losses caused by earthquakes and, therefore, the satisfaction in providing timely support to the people of Haiti facing a similar situation is even greater."

He also announced that he was in dialogue with his counterparts from Panama and Costa Rica, for whom Chile will coordinate air transport for the humanitarian aid that those nations will also send to Haiti.

Essential aid has been provided by the 253 Cuban doctors who were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. Since the very beginning of the tremors, they have been helping to treat the wounded in a hospital in Port-au-Prince, until now used for patients suffering from COVID-19.

As in 2010, after the powerful earthquake that killed some 300,000 people, and in 2018 after the earthquake in Port de Paix, the island's specialists were among the first to provide medical assistance to the thousands of victims.

The United Nations (UN), through the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, announced that it would also provide urgent aid worth eight million dollars to Haiti.

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is organizing a humanitarian corridor to assist earthquake-affected areas in Haiti. The aid, estimated for 4,500 people, is being prepared from Panama and other areas of the Caribbean. It was indicated that it includes psychological support to the victims since many of those affected previously suffered the trauma of the 2010 earthquake.

Another notable contribution was made by Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, number 2 in the world, who announced that she would donate her earnings from the Cincinnati WTA Tour tournament to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. 

"I am about to play a tournament this week, and I will allocate all the prize money to Haiti relief. I know the blood of our ancestors is strong, and we will recover," completed Osaka, who has a Japanese mother and Haitian father.