中華民國外交部

ROC government and NGOs continue to provide Haiti with humanitarian relief

The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) originally scheduled the Special Search and Rescue Team of the National Fire Agency under the Ministry of Interior to arrive in Haiti on January 15. However, the severe damage of the airport at Port-au-Prince hampered the normal functioning of the control tower. In addition, flows of international rescue teams and relief supplies caused even more serious air traffic congestion. On the morning of January 15, Haiti Time, 22 rescue aircrafts were waiting for permission to land. By noon, the airport at Port-au-Prince announced its temporary closure. As a result, 41 planes, including Taiwan’s search and rescue team, were forced to divert to the Dominican Republic. In order to gain precious time for rescue, the ROC embassy to the Dominican Republic decided to dispatch to rescue team by land.

Conditions in the aftermath in Haiti has deteriorated, the death toll is expected to exceed 100,000. Given the gradual progress of the international relief work, food and drinking water were desperately needed. Based on spirit of solidarity, the ROC government continued to provide relief supplies to the Haitian people affected by the disaster. The government has established a storage center at Taoyuan International Airport for collecting relief supplies from the private sector and has chartered private cargo planes to depart on the evening of January 18 to deliver the first batch of relief supplies to Haiti.

Furthermore, 200 tons of rice provided by the Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of Agriculture of the Executive Yuan, will be delivered to Haiti this April. In the meantime, the Embassy of Taiwan will purchase another 50 tons of food from southern Haiti to fulfill urgent needs. The Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) will arrange for a volunteer medical team with the Taiwanroot Medical Peace Corp, led by its president Dr. Liu Chi-chun, to depart for Haiti in a few days. The 40-member team will include three Haitians students of Medicine resident in Taiwan. These students will be stationed at the emergency medical center established near the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to provide with free medical treatment to the disaster victims. (E)