EU adds €35 million to post-Hurricane Matthew aid to Haiti
The European Commission is to strengthen its support to Haiti with an additional contribution of €35 million for the year 2017, composed of €16 million of humanitarian aid and €19 million of development assistance.
This additional support will respond to the consequences of the hurricane Matthew last October, which devastated Haiti and left in its wake humanitarian and development needs in an already extremely fragile country.
"The European Union is fully mobilised to help the Haitian people in these difficult times. In order to respond to urgent needs, additional €16 million of humanitarian aid will be provided to the most vulnerable Haitians in terms of food, nutrition, shelters, education, protection, water and hygiene," said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides.
The additional aid will provide basic needs – such as food and clean water – to approximately 135 000 vulnerable people who were affected by the hurricane.
Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, affirmed "The European Union has been working for a long time with Haiti in the setting up of an important programme of development cooperation, by providing support to the strengthening of the government structure, the rehabilitation of infrastructures and food security. Our strong presence as well as this new envelope of €19 million will provide a rapid response to the consequences of the disaster."
Out of the €19 million, €15 million will be transferred to the budget of the state in order to strengthen the provision of basic services. Four million euro will finance interventions aimed at improving food security and nutrition of the most vulnerable households.
Following the announcement of additional support, this brings the total amount of EU aid provided to Haiti following hurricane Matthew to €39 million.