Haiti: Over 51 million Swiss francs in donations

17.02.2010 | from Glückskette

17.02.2010, One month after the devastating earthquake on Haiti, the population of Switzerland has donated 51.3 million francs for the victims. The 20 million francs pledged on the fund- raising day has thus more than doubled. And the money is urgently needed: over 200,000 people were killed and at least 300,000 injured in the mid-January disaster. Hundreds of thousands are living in makeshift tent camps and the rainy season is fast approaching.

"The population is dreading the start of the rainy season in April as around one million people are still homeless or living in emergency shelters," says Swiss Solidarity project manager Alain Geiger. After providing initial emergency relief, the helpers are now having to focus on setting up long-term provisional accommodation to protect people from possible bad weather, before rebuilding work can even begin.

The 16 partner relief organizations working on Haiti have already considerably helped to ensure that survivors have been supplied with their most urgent needs. Swiss Solidarity holds regular coordination meetings with the partners. In view of the vast number of people affected and the scale of the damage, repair and rebuilding work will take months and years.

At over 50 million Swiss francs, this is the third largest fund-raising result in the history of Swiss Solidarity, after the collection for the victims of the 2004 tsunami (227 million francs) and the natural disaster in Switzerland in 2000 (Gondo, 74 million francs).

Donations are still urgently needed and can be made online or to postal account 10-15000-6 (marked Haiti). Swiss Solidarity paying-in slips are available in every post office.

--- END press release Haiti: Over 51 million Swiss francs in donations ---

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