THE UNITED NATIONS WORLD FOOD

Published purpose

On January 12, 2010, a massive earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale rocked Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti. It is estimated that up to 3,000,000 people have been affected by the disaster, either through injury or through loss of access to life-sustaining necessities such as food, water, sanitation services, and shelter. With Canada's support, the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food aid to an estimated 2 million people who have been affected by the earthquake. The overarching goal of this aid is to save lives and reduce immediate, acute food insecurity in the affected population. WFP is initially providing a one-week ration of "meals ready-to-eat" (MRE) or other ready-to-eat food, followed by general food distribution.