WFP Mobilizes To Assist People Affected By Hurricane Matthew
PORT AU PRINCE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is mobilizing to respond if requested by Caribbean countries in the path of Hurricane Matthew, as it struck Haiti on Tuesday as a Category 4 hurricane.
“Our priority is to support the governments’ interventions to save lives and meet the food needs of the most vulnerable and food insecure people affected,” said Miguel Barreto, WFP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “WFP is mobilizing its emergency staff and resources to deploy in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.”
In Haiti, the most food insecure of the countries in Matthew’s path, WFP has enough emergency food pre-positioned to feed up to 300,000 people for a month if needed.
Stockpiled at key locations across Haiti, these supplies can reach remote areas swiftly, even if roads are washed out or blocked. In addition, high-energy biscuits will be flown from Dubai to Miami for deployment in the wake of Hurricane Matthew according to the greatest needs.
To date, Matthew is the strongest hurricane in the Caribbean since Felix in 2007. As a Category 4 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Matthew is likely to produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides along its path.
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WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.
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For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Alejandro Chicheri, WFP/Latin America and the Caribbean, Tel. 507 317 3900, Mob. 507 6671 5355
Frances Kennedy, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 3725, Tel. Mob. +34 67600806
Steve Taravella, WFP/Washington DC, Tel. +1 202 653 1149, Mob. +1 202 770 5993
Gerald Bourke, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-5566909, Mob. +1-646 525 9982
Bettina Luescher, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. + 41-79-842-8057
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44 20 72409001, Mob. +44 7968 008474
