Some 980,000 people living in the four departments of Haiti most affected by the August 14 earthquake are at risk of starvation this winter, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warned on Thursday (FAO).
The quake destroyed all infrastructure for agricultural production and food distribution – markets, roads, warehouses, dairies, irrigation systems – and the situation worsened with Storm Grace just days after the quake.
In the quake-hit southern country, “some 980,000 people are expected to suffer from severe food insecurity (phase 3 or higher on a scale of 5) between September and February 2022, including 320,000 in phase 4 (emergency),” the FAO in a synthesis document prepared by fifteen UN agencies and international organizations, in which an assessment is made of the state of food security in the country.
The UN agency wants to help Haitians before the start of the next agricultural season in October, distributing seeds, agricultural equipment or livestock, and helping rebuild damaged infrastructure (irrigation canals, fruit processing plants, dairies or fishmongers).
To this end, the FAO is requesting $ 20 million to help some 32,000 of the most affected rural families (160,000 people).
Haiti, which is already one of the poorest countries in the world, is in a seismic zone. The previous earthquake, in 2010, killed more than 200,000 people and devastated the country’s economy.
The August 14 earthquake on the island’s southern peninsula killed more than 2,200 people.