Emergency Operations Center Situation Report #4 - Haiti Earthquake (PAHO/WHO, Jan. 16, 2009, edited)

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Emergency Operations Center Situation Report #4 - Haiti Earthquake (PAHO/WHO, Jan. 16, 2009, edited)

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Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 6:00 PM, EST

Emergency Operations Center Situation Report #4 - Haiti Earthquake


OVERVIEW

• PAHO/WHO Disaster Response Team has arrived in Haiti. A logistics platform has been set up in the border town of Jiman? in the Dominican Republic.
• A total of 13,000 cadavers have been collected by MINUSTAH. There is no comprehensive information on the number of injured.

HOSPITALS

• Assessments of the health facilities have started and although damage is reported to the main hospitals, lack of water and electricity are the main obstacles for their function. There has not been a comprehensive assessment done on the status of hospitals, and there is conflicting information about the status of various hospitals.
• At the moment few facilities are operational. These ones are generally run by International NGOs such as Choscal run by MSF B and MDM Canada; Military Hospital of the Argentineans and a few others.
• Makeshift health services where triage is taking place have been set up, and four places where people assemble while awaiting medical care.

FIELD HOSPITALS

• A temporary field hospital for the affected population has been set up in tents in the UN logistics base and different organizations are taking care of wounded patients, such as University of Florida and Friends of Haiti. Medical evacuations are being done to Martinique and Miami.
  • This facility is overcrowded as most injured patients from Port-au-Prince are brought here. No more patients are being accepted.
  • The following locations have been identified by the Ministry of Health to install foreign field hospitals:
    • 1) Park Saint Therese in Petionville;
    • 2) Stadium Guillome, near the Port-au-Prince cemetery;
    • 3) Sport Stadium of Carrefour (Stad sportif de Carrefour;
    • 4) Centre Dadadou (Delmas 3); Croix de Bouques.
• Offers of field hospitals have been received, with degrees of operational capacity. The following have arrived already and are expected to be operational soon: Israel, Colombia, France, US and medical teams from Canada, Indonesia, France, US.
• Medical facilities have also been set up by various NGOs in damaged hospitals or clinics.

HEALTH ACCESS outside Port-au-Prince

• There is concern on the influx of wounded and other displaced population towards the Dominican Republic and the north of the country, mainly Saint Marc.
  • Injured persons are accessing health services in health centers on the border towns of the Dominican Republic. Yesterday, the 20 bed hospital in Jiman? saw 2000 people, and conducted 200 major surgeries, the overflow are being sent to Santo Domingo.
  • Health services are being provided in the towns of Jiman?, Barahona, Azua, Neiba, San Juan de la Maguana, Elias Pi?a and las Matas de Farfan.

PAHO/WHO RESPONSE

• The PAHO/WHO Regional Response Team arrived in Haiti, and has begun to report. Part of this team is based at the town of Jiman? where logistics platform has been set up. Jiman? is on the border of the Dominican Republic and is 1.5 hours drive from Port-au-Prince.
• PAHO is operating out of the PROMESS warehouse near the airport. PROMESS is the central medical stores for Haiti?s Ministry of Health and is managed by PAHO. Other UN agencies are also operating from the UN Logistics base at the International Airport.
• Three additional PAHO/WHO experts arrived today with portable satellite communications equipment. A shipment of fuel for the PROMESS warehouse is expected to arrive this weekend.
• Daily Health Cluster meetings are underway. Twenty one agencies participated in the Health Cluster Meeting, with a total of about 40 persons, meetings are held daily at 4pm at the UN Logistics Base.

Table 1: List of Participating Agencies of UN Health Cluster Meeting Haiti

• ACDI
• Handicap International
• PAHO/WHO
• ACF
• Harvard Humanitarian /Partners in Health
• Partners in Health
• Canadian Forces Medical Service (DART)
• IMSURT / DMAT
• Swiss Humanitarian Aid (governmental)
• CICR
• Concern
• CRS
• Gouv of Colombia
• Israel Field Hospital
• Japan International cooperation agency (JICA)
• MDM Canada
• MSF Spain
• UNFPA
• UNICEF
• UNOP UNOPS
• USAID

IDENTIFIED NEEDS

• The management of dead bodies is of particular concern. There is no systematic way of identifying the dead and common graves are being used.
• Reports are coming in of major damage in the towns in the southern peninsula. Preliminary reports estimate 10,000 deaths in surrounding areas.
• The banking system is still not functioning, and services can only be paid for in cash.

Health Facilities in the Carrefour and Port-Au-Prince area, January 16, 2010

Source: PAHO EOC
Contact the PAHO EOC at +1 202 974 3399 or eoc@paho.org
www.twitter.com/pahoeoc

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