Global perspective Human stories

FROM THE FIELD: Bringing aid to Haiti, a country at breaking point

Man standing on a pile of rubble from collapsed buildings in Les Cayes, Haiti, on August 19, 2021, following an earthquake and tropical storm.
© WFP/Marianela González The community of Les Cayes was destroyed when a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti.

FROM THE FIELD: Bringing aid to Haiti, a country at breaking point

Humanitarian Aid

Humanitarian workers supporting relief efforts in Haiti following the devastation caused by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, are contending with widespread insecurity, including gang violence, as well as logistical challenges, as they try to reach hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people.

The earthquake in August came as the country was already reeling from years of underdevelopment and a political crisis, stemming from the assassination in early July, of President Jovenel Moïse.

Haitian woman sits with her injured child, who has a bandage on his head, in a crowded hospital ward in Les Cayes.
© WFP/Marianela González | A woman attends to her four-year-old son who was injured in the Haiti earthquake in August 2021.​

Some 4.4 million people, nearly 40 per cent of the population, are facing acute food insecurity according to the UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA.

However, funding is urgently needed, and the UN has launched an appeal for $187.3 million, to help people to start rebuilding their lives.

Find out more here about the UN’s humanitarian current work in Haiti.