OCHA Situation Report No. 8
Caribbean: Hurricane Season
6 September 2008


Source:
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

This situation report is based on information received from, the UN 
Emergency Technical Team (UNETT) in the affected countries, the Regional 
Office in Panama and the National Hurricane Centre. This situation report 
covers the effects of Hurricanes "Gustav", "Hanna" and "Ike" in the 
Carribean.

HIGHLIGHTS

- A Flash Appeal is being prepared for Haiti. All UNDAC Team members have 
arrived. Some 250,000 people are affected by "Hanna" in Gonaives only.

- Hurricane "Ike" has been upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane and is 
threatening the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

SITUATION

1. On 25 August, a tropical depression in the Caribbean strengthened into 
Tropical Storm "Gustav" and made landfall in Haiti as a Category I 
hurricane on 26 August. On 30 August, "Gustav" became a Category IV and 
made

landfall on Cuba's Island of Youth and Pinar del Rio Province. It then 
continued through the Gulf of Mexico threatening the coasts of Florida, 
Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi in the United States. "Gustav" has 
affected Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba 
and the United States.

2. Upgraded earlier to a category I hurricane, the centre of tropical 
storm "Hanna" is just below hurricane strength and continues westwards. On 
the forecast track, the center of "Hanna" should cross the southeastern 
coast of the United States tonight or early Saturday then move along the 
mid-Atlantic coast later Saturday and Saturday night. Meanwhile, Hurricane 
"Ike" is now a Category 3 hurricane and is heading towards the Bahamas. On 
this track, "Ike" could be near the Turks and Caicos Islands and the 
southeastern Bahamas early Sunday. Some fluctuations of strength are 
expected in the next day. Tropical Storm "Josephine" continues to weaken 
over the eastern Atlantic.

HAITI

3. On 4 September weather conditions continued to improve, granting 
additional access to the most affected regions by hurricane "Gustav" and 
tropical storm "Hanna". Efforts are under way to bring much needed 
assistance to affected populations very quickly as hurricane Ike's path 
(currently category 3) might make landfall on the northern part of the 
island over the weekend. The extent of damage in Gonaives is becoming more 
evident since water levels started receding. Some 250,000 people are 
affected and approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people are currently in 
temporary shelters in Gonaives. Some 1,000 people are injured. There are 
150 officially identified temporary shelters in eight zones of the city. 
Many unofficial shelters have been created. The population urgently needs 
drinking water and food.

4. The DSRSG/RC/HC convened an emergency meeting with heads of agencies, 
NGOs and IOs highlighting the need for urgent action in Gonaives. A first 
coordination meeting with local authorities took place in Gonaives with 
staff of the RC/HC office. WFP and MSF were able to send personnel to the 
city and rapid needs assessments are currently ongoing. There is still a 
considerable logistical challenge to transport and distribute relief 
items, as access to the city is still limited. The only possibility to 
reach Gonaives by land is the route Gonaives-Mirebalais with light 
vehicles. Additionally, social tensions are rising, since the population 
is growing more frustrated with the delay in the provision of assistance.

5. The situation in the southern parts of the country is still 
preoccupying and some areas continue to be inaccessible, although 
assistance reached affected population in many parts.

6. Coordination at the sectoral level as well as between the local and 
central level in Port-au-Prince has been strengthened based on the cluster 
approach. Humanitarian Partners continue working on a Flash Appeal. At an 
interagency coordination meeting, OCHA announced that funds were available 
from the Emergency Relief Response Fund (ERRF) of the Relief, Recovery and 
Reconciliation mechanism (3Rs), aimed at providing rapid and flexible 
funding to address the immediate needs during the first phase of an 
emergency and before mainstream responses start. The fund will be used to 
strategically fill gaps (geographic and sectoral) within the overall 
response plan. In addition, agencies are planning to apply for a CERF 
rapid response grant to provide an immediate life saving response. Many 
agencies have already tapped into their internal funds.

7. Inter-sectoral coordination meetings are taking place on a daily basis, 
with all humanitarian partners present in the country as well as incoming 
emergency missions. In addition, sectoral meetings are taking place on a 
regular basis to define response plans for the emergency including the 
Flash Appeal. More external assistance information will be available in 
the next situation report.

Shelter and non-food items

8. Evaluation teams have been dispatched to St. Marc, Petit/Grand Goave 
and Les Cayes. Findings indicate that the infrastructure in a number of 
temporary shelters in Les Cayes, Petit and Grand Goave and Gonaives is 
insufficient or damaged. In St. Marc, the municipality is currently 
refusing to open public buildings for temporary shelters. IOM is currently 
carrying out assessments in Gonaives, to determine the number of people 
located in temporary shelters. Premises of CARE in Gonaives were 
temporarily used as shelter by some 250 people. The MINUSTAH Argentinean 
contingent assisted in the relocation of these people. IOM and partners 
are trying to identify alternative temporary shelters, as the number of 
the displaced is likely to increase significantly once people are able to 
leave their houses.

9.On 4 September IOM received the following relief items from USAID: 
10,800 water containers (10 liter), 5,088 hygiene kits and plastic 
sheeting for 5,000 families. IOM has secured 5 closed trucks in order to 
transfer goods to a warehouse, in partnership with CRS. There is an urgent 
need to replenish stocks of non-food items. The shelter sector has also 
identified the need to provide affected communities with basic tool kits 
and possibly basic construction materials.

Health

10.In general, the main health risk remains diarrhoeal diseases, due to 
the lack of clean drinking water. Monitoring of the health situation in 
the affected departments is ongoing. The sector is conducting daily 
meetings in coordination with the ministry of health.

11.The hospital of St. Marc has been reinforced with a Cuban brigade. 
Surgical supplies have been provided by PAHO. MSF Belgium, in coordination 
with the ministry of health and PAHO, has transformed a health centre into 
a small hospital in Rabuteau.

12.In the South and South Eastern departments, according to PAHO, Tiburon 
is still inaccessible; no medical supplies have been delivered. Basic 
medical relief items have been delivered by PAHO to Cote de Fer. In the 
North Western department, there is no electricity in the hospital of 
Port-de-Paix. Daily evaluations of health centres in the West, North and 
North East are being carried out by departmental health authorities and 
medical teams. The findings are generally positive; however there is a 
lack of electricity in hospitals. MSF Belgium and the ICRC have 
established mobile hospitals in Carrefour and Cite Soleil. In Grande Anse, 
MDM France established a mobile hospital with basic supplies provided by 
PAHO. PLAN INTERNACIONAL is assisting communities affected by the 
Hurricane Gustav in the southeast department of Haiti in partnership with 
the Departmental Direction of Health. Stock of medicines, medical and 
health care products were provided as well as psychosocial support to 
affected children and their communities.

Food

13.At this stage of the emergency, food is still one of the main 
priorities. So far, some 14, 000 beneficiaries have been reached. WFP has 
distributed 140 MT of food to the affected areas in the South East, Nippes 
and West department. 7 WFP staff members arrived in Gonaives. World Vision 
is providing hot meals for 100 persons in Gonaives and some 800 hot meals 
to the population in Hinche. CRS is carrying out food distributions for 
2,000 families in Les Cayes, for 300 families in Leogane, 355 families in 
Petit Goave and 135 families in Vialet. For the specific case of Gonaives, 
on 4 September, WFP is planning to send 7 MT of HEB by helicopter. A boat 
chartered by WFP was scheduled to depart Port-au-Prince for Gonaives. WFP 
is also exploring a road access with M6 trucks to transport 170 MT of food 
for 50,000 people for one week. Sectoral coordination meetings on food 
security, logistics and ICT are held on a regular basis.

Water and Sanitation

14.WatSan has been identified as one of the main priorities. Some EURO 
2000,000 is already available for emergency assistance in the WatSan 
sector, provided by ECHO. A UNICEF WASH officer is expected to be deployed 
soon from RO Panama.

Protection

15.A meeting with UNICEF partners in the protection sector was held on 4 
September. Local partners are being identified to carry out psychosocial 
projects. Psychology students will be recruited by UNICEF's partners to 
assist in the implementation of the projects. UNICEF is deploying a child 
protection officer to Gonaives.

16.The UNDAC team latest members will arrive today. UNDAC members (2) are 
already in Gonaives with TSF and an OSOCC was established in the OCHA 
premises in Port-au-Prince. A Flash Appeal will be launched next week. 
Clusters are activated and global cluster support will be requested from 
logistics, WASH, shelter and early recovery. An MCDA request was sent 
today by WFP. UNICEF is exploring the possibility of its internal 
emergency program funding (EPF).

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