On behalf of President Dmitry Medvedev the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) continues to actively assist Haiti in the elimination of the consequences of a large-scale natural disaster. This is done in close coordination with the Foreign Ministry both in Moscow and in Haiti and adjacent countries, where Russian diplomats and rescuers are working shoulder to shoulder.
Upon arrival in Port-au-Prince of four EMERCOM aircraft humanitarian aid was handed over to the Haitian authorities, and a mobile hospital deployed that provides assistance to the injured. The Russian rescuers have been working around the clock. All in all, 138 EMERCOM officers and ten units of equipment (including five aircraft) are involved in the relief work.
As of January 20, the rescuers had saved nine people (including two children) from the rubble, and searched 230 houses, three schools and a university in an area of 80 sq. km. They had aided 271 victims (including 67 children), performed 67 surgical operations, helped 378 Haitians psychologically, and hospitalized 37 people, despite the fact that the mobile hospital is not designed for hospital treatment.
At the Venezuelan government's request, two EMERCOM IL-76 planes delivered Venezuelan humanitarian goods from Caracas to Haiti on January 17. The airlift will likely go on during subsequent days. Russian aircraft have already made 21 flights, including the delivery of 60 tons of relief supplies from Venezuela. Two EMERCOM planes are now being loaded in Caracas and Panama.
As of today, EMERCOM has spent US$5 million on humanitarian aid and relief efforts in Haiti.
Unfortunately, a Russian citizen, Nikolai Sukhomlin, a professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, has been confirmed dead in the earthquake while lecturing in the conference hall of the university, which was completely destroyed.