HURRICANE TOMAS, Supplies

FROM RELIEF WEB:

Haiti : Tropical storm Tomas: ACTED is on major alert
Source: Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED)
Date: 04 Nov 2010

Pre-positioning of contingency stocks at the hands of the imminent arrival of tropical storm Tomas

The teams of ACTED have been mobilized since the last two weeks to respond to the cholera outbreak in Artibonite, Haitian region north of the capital, and are getting ready for the arrival of tropical storm Tomas that should hit Haitian shores during the night of Thursday to Friday.

ACTED has received more than 8,000 emergency shelter kits (composed of tarpaulins, ropes and poles) from the British Cooperation (DFID), to reinforce ACTED's capacity to respond. The 5 bases of ACTED (Port-au-Prince, Leogane, Jacmel, Saint Marc and Hinche) have prepared contingency stocks composed principally of energetic biscuits, material for the reinforcement of shelters, jerrycans, aquatabs and hygiene kits, and have also pre-positioned loaded trucks in order to start emergency distributions if needed.

Tropical storm Tomas that is occurring at the end of the cyclonic season (from beginning of June until end of November) could cause many important damages, whilst some 1.2 million persons are still living in spontaneous settlements in the city of Port-au-Prince. Movements of population are also awaited. These displacements, doubled with possible flooding and the associated sanitation degradations, could increase considerably the risk of propagation of cholera.