The Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, said on Saturday that “human beings, fathers and mothers who have children, are always going to flee poverty and conflict.” 

On a two-day mission to Haiti, the UN deputy chief said on Friday that relief teams are “working day and night”, and that she was struck by the resilience of the Haitian people, who had mobilized quickly to support their neighbours in the aftermath of last week’s massive earthquake and subsequent tropical storm.

The UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and 19 UN agencies there have been working together to support a country in the throes of a pandemic that could challenge the nation’s delicate balance of stability, security and development, the head of the Mission told the Security Council on Friday.

On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 magnitude quake struck Haiti, devastating its capital, Port-au-Prince. About 220,000 people were reportedly killed, among them, 102 UN staff who lost their lives when the building housing the stabilization mission there, known as MINUSTAH, collapsed. Some 300,000 people were injured and 1.5 million become homeless during the 35-second-long tremor.