What is the Red Cross Red Crescent doing in Haiti right now?
The Red Cross Red Crescent has sent 21 Emergency Response Units to Haiti. These are teams of specialist volunteers and pre-packed sets of standardized equipment for use in disasters. The teams that were sent to Haiti include medical facilities and staff as well as specialists in water and sanitation, telecommunications and logistics. These teams support the existing volunteers from Haiti Red Cross who have detailed knowledge of the local communities and have been working tirelessly. Medical capacity of the ERUs is around 1,300 patients a day and water-production capacity is 1.5 million litres a day. The Red Cross and Red Crescent response has included the provision to over 37,000 families (185,000 people) of shelter materials consisting of tarpaulins, ropes and tools and including nearly 3,600 tents. Humanitarian agencies distributing emergency shelter-materials have in all reached more than 650,000 people the halfway mark.
