Back up to provide assistance for victims

© William Daniels for Handicap International

This week an emergency team will join the five expatriate staff members already working in Haiti. This team of physiotherapists and logisticians will make it possible for the association to provide support for the victims of the earthquake which hit the island on Tuesday evening.
By the end of the week one ton of equipment (wheelchairs, orthoses, walkers, crutches etc.) will be sent out, with the first plane shipment leaving Lyon today.

Since the end of 2008, Handicap International has managed a fleet of 45 all-purpose lorries, in partnership with the World Food Program (WFP), used to distribute humanitarian aid to areas to which access is severely limited following the hurricanes in 2008.

It is likely that Handicap International will face numerous difficulties including a lack of operational health structures due to the destruction of buildings, a lack of available, qualified personnel and a complex security situation which was already critical prior to the earthquake.