Haiti Quake Updates

Aid loaded and transported to Stansted Airport (UK) for flight donated by British Airways on Friday

Fifty tons of aid equipment, which will help thousands of people in Haiti devastated by last week’s earthquake, will be packed up at Oxfam’s warehouse today, ready to be flown out tomorrow (Friday).

The aid - including tools, wheelbarrows, latrine slabs and water tanks – will be loaded onto lorries at the international agency’s warehouse in Bicester, Oxfordshire, to be transported to Stansted Airport. The aid will be flown to the Dominican Republic tomorrow morning on a flight generously donated free of charge by British Airways. The aid will then go by truck to Haiti.

The emergency equipment paid for by public donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Earthquake Appeal, which has so far raised $50 million in just one week. Increasing amounts of Oxfam aid is being distributed on a daily basis.

Oxfam is starting to work in seven sites across the Haitian capital targeting 92,000 people with life-saving aid – clean water, safe sanitation, hygiene kits and plastic sheeting for temporary shelters. The equipment from Stansted will boost the humanitarian effort further.

Oxfam GB’s Humanitarian director Jane Cocking said: “It is encouraging to see more and more aid being flown out so our team in Haiti can give the humanitarian support needed by thousands of people in Haiti. As well as looking at their immediate needs Oxfam will be putting its long-term work back on track so that people can put their lives back together for the future. This is being made possible by the tremendous support from the British public.”

The aid will be packed onto a British Airways flight at Stansted, along with aid from the Red Cross. Additional aid from the World Food Program and Unicef will be loaded on the plane in Denmark, before being flown into Santa Domingo airport on Saturday evening.

Please donate now

The people of Haiti need your support. Help now by donating to our Haiti Earthquake Response Fund:

• Oxfam America
• Oxfam Australia
• Oxfam-in-Belgium, in French or in Dutch
• Oxfam Canada
• Oxfam Germany
• Oxfam Great Britain
• Oxfam Hong Kong
• Oxfam Ireland, in Euro or in Sterling
• UCODEP (Linked Oxfam organization, Italy)
• Oxfam Mexico
• Oxfam Novib (Netherlands)
• Oxfam New Zealand
• Oxfam Quebec
• Intermon Oxfam (Spain)

Alternatively, you can also make a donation to the general emergency fund of your nearest national Oxfam affiliate. Your money will be used to fund our emergency work worldwide, which includes responding in countries such as Haiti.

Read more

Photos, videos and links to blogs

Follow on Twitter for latest updates: @oxfam and @louisoxfam

Contact information

Media are welcome to film, photograph or carry out interviews at Oxfam’s Emergency Aid Warehouse in Bicester, Oxfordshire today 12 noon – 3pm.

For more information contact:
Lucy Brinicombe in Oxford 07786 110054 / 01865 472192 / lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk
Rebecca Wynn in Bicester: 07769 887139

The Disasters Emergency Committee – a group of the 13 leading UK aid agencies including Oxfam Great Britain – has launched a joint appeal for funds. The public can donate to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal by calling 0370 60 60 900 or visiting the website http://www.dec.org.uk/ 

Outside the United Kingdom, please donate to your nearest Oxfam.