UNITED NATIONS, April 2 (Xinhua) -- While continuing aid deliveries to those affected by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday they are increasing relief for those fleeing Haiti's capital city.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners chartered a boat from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives to ship medicines and medical supplies for more than 100 health partners in the northern region as well as food to replenish dozens of distribution centers in the North-West Department, including in schools and hospitals.
"To scale up humanitarian operations, we need unhindered and safe access to people and to our supplies," OCHA said.
The continuing insecurity in Port-au-Prince also continues to push people to leave the capital and find refuge in neighboring departments, it said.
International Organization for Migration figures show that between March 8-27, more than 53,000 people left Port-au-Prince. The majority of them are heading toward the departments of Grande'Anse, South, Nippes and South-East, said OCHA.
These departments do not have sufficient infrastructure and host communities do not have sufficient resources to cope with the large number of people fleeing the capital, it warned.
The WFP reports supplying more than 30,000 hot meals to displaced people in Port-au-Prince on Monday -- the largest number of meals delivered in a single day since the start of the crisis. The WFP also provided 79,000 school meals to students in the Gonaives area in the north and cash transfers to 1,200 people in Jeremie in the south. ■
