Partners Display Tremendous Spirit of Cooperation

When the earthquake struck late in the afternoon of January 12, it quickly became clear that the needs for emergency supplies were immediate and more than any one organization could provide.

On January 16, CIDA began delivering shipments of blankets, sheets, water buckets, cooking utensils and personal hygiene kits. CIDA finances emergency supplies managed by the Canadian Red Cross in their warehouses in Mississauga, Ontario.

Given the extraordinary depth of human need, CIDA and its humanitarian partners, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, the Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI), World Vision Canada and Save the Children Canada, pulled together immediately to prepare and transport supplies using Air Canada, Air Transat and Canadian Forces aircrafts.

As the shipments arrived, people also began working side by side to unload aircrafts, transport supplies and distribute them to temporary shelters that provide refuge to tens of thousands of Haitians affected by the earthquake.

Humanitarian partners on the ground are cooperating extensively with one another, especially as everyone is forced to contend with serious shortages of personnel, materials and technical resources.

For these agencies, the work is relentless, and the prevailing spirit of cooperation, unprecedented.

Supplies sent by CIDA to Haiti

1,000 tents
5,000 emergency shelters
8,625 blankets
4,968 buckets with lids
2,275 hygiene kits
7,080 jerrycans
3,511 cooksets
2,000 mosquito nets
13,700 tarpaulins