Haiti: World Food Program Faces Most Difficult Challenge Ever

More than two weeks after the earthquake, humanitarian organizations are still trying to reach some of Haiti’s hardest hit areas. Speaking to reporters yesterday after having returned from Port-au-Prince, World Food Program(WFP) Chief Josette Sheeran said the situation was one of the most challenging, if not the most challenging, the organization had ever faced. “ The needs are quite vast and the supply chain of food getting in is a nightmare”said Sheeran, who now believes that the WFP will need to provide more food for a longer period of time than the organization had initially expected.

Although humanitarian corridors have already been open, the limited amount of entry points into the country, communication problems and road conditions have made distribution exceedingly difficult. Helicopter sling drops have been performed mainly in the country side but remain difficult to perform in large urban areas such as Port-au-Prince. World Food Program offices and warehouses have for the most part destroyed, and a majority of the staff already stationed in the country are working and living outside in the streets.

Sheeran also confirmed that riots had broken out at certain distribution sites and that UN and US security escorts were necessary to ensure that the weakest and most vulnerable have equal access to food and water. With nearly a million people in Port-au-Prince thought to be homeless, most of them with no access to cooking facilities, WFP is concentrating on distributing ready to use food such as high energy biscuits and supplementary plumpy. The organization has already delivered 8 million meals but has already drawn down most of its supplies and is know calling on the militaries of the world to donate as much ready to use food as they can spare.