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Oxfam Team In Place For Haiti Earthquake Response
January 13, 2010Following a major 7.0 earthquake near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, international aid agency Oxfam announced that its teams are ready to respond. Early reports state that over two million people have been affected near the Port-au-Prince area, Haiti's capital city. Oxfam has a staff of about 200 people on the ground in Haiti and a team of 15 highly-experienced emergency specialists based in the capital will be responding with public health, water and sanitation services to prevent the spread of waterborne disease. "The first step in an emergency will be getting clean water to people who need it as we know from experience that shocks like this disrupt water lines, and transportation is completely broken down," said Michael Delaney, director of Oxfam America's humanitarian response department. The agency announced that as soon as assessment teams have a fuller understanding of the emergency needs Haitians across the region face, Oxfam will work urgently to meet them now and in the coming days. Full release.