Written by Catherine Ginty on Wed, 2010-01-27 10:48
'Scenes of riots at a food distribution centre in Haiti last night don't represent the aid effort as a whole' according to Trócaire's Conor O'Loughlin, who is currently in Port-au-Prince.
UN troops sprayed tear gas at a frantic crowd of thousands yesterday outside the ruined presidential palace in Port au Prince. However, according to Conor 'the food handout was a badly organised government operation and other operations are going smoothly, without panic'.
In Haiti Trócaire is working as the Irish branch of CARITAS, the largest humanitarian agency in the world after the Red Cross. This week Trócaire/ CARITAS is distributing food to 50,000 people living in a temporary camp at the Petionville Club (a former country club for Haiti's elite). 'It's going incredibly well' according to Conor 'and shows that with some organisation these things can go smoothly, and we can get food to the people that need it.'
'We are operating with a system of ticketing in the camp. Everyone has been given coloured tickets depending on which part of the camp they live in. On Monday, those in the yellow quadrant were given their supplies; on Tuesday, the red quadrant got theirs. By Friday, 50,000 people will have received rations of lentils, vegetable oil and bulgur, a whole-grain, high fibre wheat. People understand the system so there is no confusion, no frustration and importantly no panic.'
According to Conor 'while the situation remains extremely difficult, there is a lot of good work being done here despite the media reports'.