Americas News
Red Cross: Haiti situation "catastrophic"
Jan 18, 2010, 13:26 GMT
Geneva - The International Committee of the Red Cross said the situation Monday in Haiti was 'catastrophic.'
'Given the scale of the needs, the task facing humanitarian organizations is daunting,' Riccardo Conti, the ICRC's chief in Haiti said in a statement.
'Even if the presence of aid agencies is starting to be felt in hospitals and clinics, many medical facilities in Port-au-Prince still lack staff and medicine,' said Conti.
Access to shelter, sanitation, water, food and medical care 'remains extremely limited,' the ICRC said.
Limited water was creating health and hygiene concerns while 'all over Port-au-Prince, the stench of urine is overpowering,' the statement said.
Meanwhile, the 'health and sanitation situation is growing increasingly precarious in the makeshift camps' set up for survivors of the quake.
'People are becoming more aggressive because they need food and water,' the Red Cross quoted a 29-year-old Haitian woman identified as Sherley as saying.
Reports continued of looting and the open carrying of arms.
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