UN calls for emergency aid for Haiti

The United Nations calls for emergency aids in advance for Haiti, as Tropical Storm Tomas is expected to affect thousands of people in the already battered nation.

As Haiti still struggles to recover from the January earthquake and a cholera epidemic, hurricane Tomas is believed to have a negative impact on the life of up to 500,000 people, UN agencies said late Friday.

Supplies and enough fuel for up to seven days have been distributed between the camps all across Haiti, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a statement, according to AFP.

The UN has announced it needs 90,000 hygiene kits, 150,000 tarpaulins, 90,000 cases of soap, 200,000 packs of oral rehydration salts to treat cholera and 200 emergency center tents for cholera treatment.

Tomas “could not have come at a more difficult time,” said UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Nigel Fisher.

“Although we have made extensive preparations and prepositioned stocks across the country, some crucial supplies have been badly depleted by ongoing needs, particularly the response to the ongoing cholera epidemic,” Nigel added.

The 7.0-magnitude quake of January 12, 2010, left an estimated 250,000 dead, 300,000 injured and 1,000,000 homeless. Cholera, meanwhile, has claimed the life of at least 337 people in the past month.