UN chief calls for more aid for Haiti

Haiti needs an immediate boost in relief funding to help hundreds of hungry people still living in shelters nearly two months after a string of devastating tropical storms, the UN humanitarian chief said.

John Holmes, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, made the appeal after he arrived in the coastal city of Gonaives by helicopter and visited a warehouse where 1,500 people are still living seven weeks after their homes were destroyed.

“We need to do more,” he said. “It’s obvious that the conditions are still not good in a lot of those shelters.”

Donor countries have contributed just 23% of a $108m (€85m) UN appeal issued after the storms, with an additional $16m (€12.6m) pledged but not delivered, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

“It’s not adequate so far, no,” Mr Holmes said. He speculated the appeal might have been hindered by relatively low news media attention and a lack of interest by some donors. I can’t really give you a rational explanation,” he added.