October 21, 2016

Highlights

USAID announces an additional $14 million for the Hurricane Matthew response

USAID partners conduct a joint distribution in Grand’Anse, reaching more than 550 households on October 19

An additional 470 rolls of USAID/OFDA plastic sheeting arrive in Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince

JTF Matthew concludes hurricane relief operations in Haiti

Key Developments

USAID announced an additional $14 million in support for the Hurricane Matthew response on October 21. The new funding will provide critical food assistance and relief supplies to hurricane-affected communities, bolster logistical capacity and operations, and support efforts to mitigate the risk of cholera transmission and other waterborne diseases in the aftermath of the storm. The announcement brings total U.S. Government (USG) humanitarian assistance for the disaster to nearly $37.9 million, including approximately $27.7 million from USAID and nearly $10.2 million from DoD.

Given the improved road access and logistical capacity of the Government of Haiti (GoH) and international humanitarian community, USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), in consultation with the U.S. military and U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, has determined that DoD logistical and transportation support is no longer necessary. Following the determination, Navy Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), announced the conclusion of U.S. military relief efforts in Haiti. Joint Task Force (JTF) Matthew—comprising approximately 400 service members—concluded activities on October 19. Since its activation on October 5, JTF Matthew transported approximately 275 metric tons (MT) of emergency food assistance and relief supplies, as well as more than 175 humanitarian personnel, to hurricane-affected areas of Grand’Anse and Sud departments.

HUMANITARIAN ACCESS AND INSECURITY

Improved road access along the main routes to Les Cayes commune, Sud, and Jeremie commune, Grand’Anse, is facilitating the transportation of food and relief supplies to these areas; however, secondary and tertiary roads in many areas remain impassable due to debris, flooding, and infrastructural damage, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) released its findings from a rapid post-disaster assessment conducted in Grand’Anse from October 5–14, noting that nearly 80 percent of assessed localities in the communes of Beaumont, Jeremie, and Saint Louis are now accessible by road. In Les Cayes and surrounding areas, recent rainfall is challenging ongoing road-clearing efforts, according to a USAID/OFDA local consultant.

To support the transition from U.S. military to civilian logistical operations in Haiti, the UN World Food Program (WFP) has deployed an additional helicopter—capable of carrying four passengers and approximately 1.5 MT of cargo—to Les Cayes, where the asset will provide airlift capacity for humanitarian organizations. In coordination with the logistics working group, WFP has also established logistics hubs in Les Cayes and Jeremie with capacity to receive and store humanitarian cargo before onward distribution. With approximately $4.5 million, USAID is supporting WFP’s special operation, which aims to augment humanitarian logistical, telecommunications, and transportation capacity in Haiti.

The Government of the Netherlands has deployed two ships to support relief operations in areas that remain inaccessible by road. One of the vessels, based in Les Cayes, is serving coastal areas between Sud’s Roche-a-Bateau and Tiburon communes. The second vessel—a barge carrying approximately 500 MT of food assistance and capable of producing up to 36 MT of potable water per day—is scheduled to reach hurricane-affected areas in the coming days.

With $1.8 million in USAID/OFDA funding, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is supporting continued logistics capacity in Haiti, including facilitating the management, storage, and transportation of relief items to hurricane-affected areas. With USAID/OFDA support, IOM is also establishing five temporary warehouses in affected areas, allowing the organization to pre-position supplies for rapid distribution to non-governmental organization (NGO) partners.

USAID/OFDA is also supporting J/P Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO) to continue efforts to clear roads of debris and thereby restore road access to areas which remain cut off following Hurricane Matthew. In coordination with the GoH Ministry of Public Works, J/P HRO is prioritizing access to hard-hit areas in Grand’Anse and Sud, including remote locations such as Rendel town, Sud, and Anse-d’Hainault commune, Grand’Anse. The organization is complementing its use of heavy road-clearing equipment with a cash-for-work debris removal intervention, which aims to create temporary employment opportunities for local community members.

As relief actors continue to restore road access, insecurity—including roadblocks and general unrest—has disrupted the delivery of humanitarian assistance to some hurricane-affected areas, according to USAID partners. To facilitate the distribution of food and relief commodities to hard-hit communities, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti and the Haitian National Police (HNP) are providing integrated security support to protect humanitarian convoys and personnel at distribution sites. In support of these efforts, the DART coordinated the transportation of 30 additional HNP personnel to Jeremie, where HNP forces will continue to enforce security at distribution sites.

LOGISTICS SUPPORT AND RELIEF COMMODITIES

In coordination with the GoH and other relief actors, USAID partners continue to address the urgent needs of hard-hit communities in Grand’Anse and Sud. On October 19, USAID partners ACTED, IOM, and WFP conducted a joint food and relief commodity distribution, reaching more than 550 households in Jeremie. On October 18, USAID/OFDA partner Catholic Relief Services (CRS) distributed relief commodities, including blankets, solar lamps, and water purification tablets, to 150 households in Les Cayes. CRS also provided more than 400 households in Les Cayes with cash transfers on October 19.

As of October 18, USAID partner WFP had transferred nearly 2,150 MT of emergency food assistance, including pulses, rice, salt, and vegetable oil, to Les Cayes and Jeremie for onward distribution by NGOs. The total includes more than 210 MT of food assistance transported via DoD relief flights. The WFP-procured food rations have reached an estimated 77,000 people across Grand’Anse and Sud, the organization reports.

To date, USAID/FFP has contributed more than $13.2 to support emergency relief operations in Haiti. USAID/FFP assistance is supporting WFP to provide urgently needed food assistance to 750,000 people in Haiti for three months and to transport 6,600 boxes of ready-to-use supplementary foods (RUSF) to prevent and treat malnutrition among affected populations. USAID/FFP assistance is also supporting NGO CARE to distribute food rations and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) supplies in Grand’Anse and Sud. CARE has recently commenced delivery of daily hot meals at 14 shelters in Sud’s Torbeck and Camp Perrin communes. With USAID/FFP support, CARE is also providing meals at shelters in Sud’s Coteaux, Cavaillon, and Port-a-Piment communes and had distributed food and WASH supplies to an estimated 6,600 households in Grand’Anse’s Moron commune as of October 16.

HEALTH AND WASH

Reports of new suspected cholera cases in Grand’Anse and Sud have decreased in recent days, according to the GoH Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP). However, the number of suspected cases continues to exceed the average number of cases reported prior to Hurricane Matthew, and additional cholera prevention and treatment interventions are still needed. From September 1–October 17, the MSPP recorded more than 1,100 suspected cholera cases in Grand’Anse and Sud. Health actors caution, however, that reliable data on cholera will not be available until laboratory diagnostic results are completed.

Many cholera treatment centers (CTCs) sustained hurricane-related damage and only 20 of 32 CTCs in Grand’Anse and Sud were reporting suspected cholera cases as of October 20. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemiologists are supporting departmental health actors in Grand’Anse and Sud, as well as at the MSPP, to strengthen cholera reporting and surveillance mechanisms.

In addition to working with the GoH to support cholera prevention and treatment initiatives, CDC teams are supporting GoH assessments of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis programs in Jeremie and Les Cayes, as well as WASH activities in Grand’Anse and Sud. Preliminary findings from CDC assessments of health facility capacity and WASH needs in Grand’Anse’s Anse-d’Hainhault, Chambellan, Dame-Marie, and Moron communes suggest a need for improved chlorination in community and household water systems, as well as the need for improved sanitation in CTCs.

In coordination with CDC and other relief actors, USAID/OFDA continues to mobilize resources to address WASH issues known to heighten the risk of increased cholera transmission and to strengthen treatment services. The DART has transferred 5.7 million water purification tablets, sufficient to meet water treatment needs of approximately 38,000 households, or 190,000 people, for one month, to IOM for distribution in coordination with the GoH National Directorate for Water and Sanitation and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). IOM plans to deliver 3.7 million tablets to hurricane-affected areas throughout Grand’Anse and Sud, while remaining supplies will be reserved for use in areas of Port-au-Prince which are at high risk of cholera. Additionally, on October 19, a DART-coordinated flight carrying 700,000 oral rehydration solution (ORS) packets for the treatment of acute watery diarrhea arrived in Haiti; an additional 800,000 ORS packets are scheduled to arrive in the coming days. Cumulatively, the 1.5 million supply is estimated to treat approximately 150,000 cases of mild-to-moderate diarrheal disease. USAID/OFDA has also deployed WASH advisors to Jeremie and Les Cayes to support the GoH Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC) with WASH programing coordination.

With nearly $1.2 million of USAID/OFDA funding, International Medical Corps (IMC) is improving access to essential WASH services and infrastructure in temporary shelters and health facilities, as well as the availability of essential health care with integrated sexual and reproductive health services. Among other activities, IMC is supporting WASH stakeholders in identifying and addressing gaps in the public water supply system. IMC’s programming aims to address the health and WASH needs of approximately 36,900 people in Grand’Anse and Sud.

With USAID/OFDA support, ACTED is providing WASH assistance to approximately 128,000 people in Grand’Anse and Sud. ACTED intends to provide 5,000 hygiene kits and 5,000 WASH kits to support approximately 48,000 people, while also conducting hygiene promotion campaigns focused on handwashing, food and water storage, environmental health, waste management, the preparation of ORS, and cholera prevention techniques. With USAID/OFDA support, ACTED is also establishing oral rehydration sites and distributing water chlorination tablets.

PROTECTION AND SHELTER

With more than 175,500 people remaining in temporary shelters throughout hurricane-affected areas, the GoH DPC is encouraging the distribution of plastic sheeting to enable shelter repair efforts.

On October 17, a shipment containing 470 rolls of USAID/OFDA-procured plastic sheeting arrived in Port-au-Prince. To date, USAID/OFDA has airlifted more than 3,500 rolls of plastic sheeting to provide emergency shelter assistance for up to 175,000 hurricane-affected people. USAID/OFDA has consigned the plastic sheeting to IOM for onward distribution through various partners.

The DART is also working with IOM to ensure the safe and efficient use of USAID/OFDA-procured plastic sheeting for shelter repairs. From October 18–19, DART shelter and settlements advisors worked with IOM to develop visual and written guidance on the proper use of plastic sheeting for distribution to beneficiaries. DART and IOM staff have also trained 20 USAID/OFDA local consultants on the use of plastic sheeting for shelter repairs; the consultants are scheduled to deploy to distribution sites in Grand’Anse and Sud in the coming weeks to provide household-level instruction, enabling beneficiaries to maximize the benefits of plastic sheeting.

USAID/OFDA partner ACTED is providing emergency shelter commodities—including blankets, mosquito nets, ropes, and tarpaulins—as well as a limited supply of solar lamps to improve the protection needs of the most severely affected households in Grand’Anse and Sud. With USAID/OFDA support, ACTED is also providing unconditional cash grants to assist an estimated 1,000 people to meet food, health, and other critical needs.

Response organizations continue to highlight several protection concerns, particularly among displaced populations, in the aftermath of the hurricane, including poor shelter conditions and insufficient reproductive health and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and response services. Protecting vulnerable populations and ensuring reproductive health needs are met during emergency contexts, particularly for women and girls, is a chief concern for USAID.

With USAID/OFDA support, IMC is mitigating the risks of SGBV resulting from hurricane-related displacement by improving the availability of basic support services to vulnerable women, girls, and survivors of SGBV in Grand’Anse and Sud. Among other activities, IMC plans to create designated safe spaces for women and girls in temporary shelters and strengthen existing psychosocial and SGBV programs.

To track populations displaced by Hurricane Matthew, USAID/OFDA is supporting IOM to launch a displacement tracking matrix (DTM) in Haiti. The DTM will monitor urban displacement in Grand’Anse and Sud, seeking to develop a centralized database of displaced populations and identify urgent needs and protection gaps. Additionally, USAID is working with partners to ensure that gender and protection are mainstreamed throughout programmatic design and implementation.

OTHER HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

On October 19, the Government of Australia (GoA) announced plans to provide $2.5 million for humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti. GoA assistance will include $1.5 million for UNICEF to increase access to safe drinking water and sanitation and thereby help combat the transmission of cholera and other waterborne diseases.

The Government of Switzerland (GoS) deployed additional rapid response teams to Sud on October 17 to conduct shelter and WASH activities, focusing on coastal areas north of Les Cayes. The GoS Humanitarian Aid Unit—through 15 staff present in Haiti since early October—has also distributed approximately 40,000 water purification tablets for more than 10,000 people in Port-a-Piment; provided 5,000 tarpaulins to affected households in Sud’s Port-Salut commune for use as temporary roofing while houses are rebuilt; and established a water distribution system which supplies an estimated 3,000 people in Port-Salut with safe drinking water per day.

As of October 21, other international donors had contributed approximately $31.8 million for the Hurricane Matthew response, including more than $19 million—nearly 16 percent—toward the UN’s $119.9 million flash appeal. Top donors include the Government of the UK and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), a pooled, humanitarian fund established and managed by the UN to enable timely humanitarian assistance to people in the early days of a disaster, which had provided approximately $13.5 million and $11.5 million, respectively, according to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service.