Terremoto ad Haiti - l'UE coordina gli aiuti
Subito dopo il disastro, l'UE ha messo a disposizione 3 milioni di euro per i primi soccorsi, cui ne sono seguiti altri 27, e poi 100 per iniziare subito la ricostruzione. Metà di questi fondi è completamente nuova, l'altra metà sarà attinta da stanziamenti precedentemente accantonati a favore del paese caraibico. Per la ricostruzione sul lungo periodo saranno resi disponibili altri 200 milioni di euro, che si aggiungono ai 92 milioni di euro già forniti dai singoli paesi dell'UE. È questa la situazione emersa da una riunione d'emergenza tenutasi a Bruxelles, in cui si è anche parlatodella possibilità di inviare soldati europei ad Haiti, senza però prendere una decisione definitiva in questo senso.
Il commissario europeo per lo Sviluppo e gli aiuti umanitari Karel De Gucht si è recato a Port-au-Prince la scorsa settimana per rendersi conto dipersona della situazione e ha incontrato le autorità haitiane, i rappresentanti dell'ONU e dei principali soggetti attivi sul frontedei soccorsi, per arrivare a un coordinamento di tutti gli sforzicompiuti sul campo.
di Susana Perez Diaz, Communication Officer, ECHO
© Croce Rossa tedesca
Domenica, 24 Gennaio 2010
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I am standing in a camp of NGOs and United Nations agencies at Port-au-Prince airport, surrounded by tents, containers and lorries in their hundreds. The commotion of planes and helicopters bringing aid to Haiti is never-ending.
As every morning, there is a meeting of the health "cluster". In the tent are NGO and UN staffers and someone from the Haitian Health Ministry. As every morning, the agenda includes exchanging information, asking the essential questions and coordinating the hundreds of organisations and volunteers.
We start with instructions for newcomers: "Come and tell us who you are, how many you are, what are your specialities, where you are working and with whom do you share your information. Contact the local authorities in the location you are operating."
The Minister's representative shares the new deployment strategy planned by the government with its main health partners, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.
The focus is shifting from emergency healthcare and mobile hospitals to primary care and prevention. The initial requirements to treat the injured in the streets, and the enormous emergency surgery needs must be replaced with more "normal" and routine medical care for the people living in the open.
On Tuesday, the WHO and UNICEF will launch a campaign to vaccinate children against diptheria, tetanus and measles.
Questions are raised; information is disseminated:
* Emergency surgery is decreasing but post-operative services must be organised;
* Some mobile hospitals will be closed and there is a request for the tents and beds of departing agencies to be left for the use of the Haitian Red Cross
* How to integrate newly-arriving medical personnel into existing structures?
* In some hospitals, 70-80% of the patients can be discharged - but they no longer have homes to go to. Where can they be sent?
* Is there a list of local medical staff in Port-au-Prince who can be contacted and integrated into medical teams already deployed?
The needs are mammoth, the organisation massive and the coordination colossal, but little by little things are coming together. Despite the hesitant beginnings, due to the scale of the disaster, the situation is now more under control. It took a while because everyone - the Haitian people, the relief organisations and the institutions were all so badly hit when the earthquake struck.
