THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD

Published purpose

Within the span of just over one week at the end of August and beginning of September 2008, Hurricanes Fay and Gustav and tropical storm Hanna swept through Haiti, causing widespread destruction throughout the country. Based on initial assessments, it is estimated that up to 800,000 people are in need of humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance. The number of Haitians directly and indirectly affected by the extreme weather conditions is much higher. Initial projections show that the economic impact of the current disasters is even worse than after hurricane Jeanne, which hit Haiti in 2004. A large majority of the population was already facing extreme hardship, with 53% living on less than one US dollar per day, while prices for staple foods have increased over 40% since the beginning of 2008. CIDA funding enables the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide coordination and information management services to support humanitarian response operations and ensure a coordinated and efficient logistics response for all humanitarian partners. Services include sufficient air, sea, and land transport, warehousing capacity, information management, GIS mapping, and cargo tracking.