During the day yesterday and this morning, the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard, announced through his Twitter account the dispatch of two humanitarian aid planes that left Mexico for Haiti. Onboard the first shipment, 15.4 tons of shipments with medicines, equipment for rescuers, and supplies arrived on the Caribbean island.
Two planes left Military Base Number 19 in Mexico City for Port-au-Prince, to carry the first shipment. Later, a second shipment aboard a Casa C-295 ANX 1254 plane also took off from the Mexican capital, with three more tons of humanitarian aid. In this second shipment, food, personal hygiene packages, blankets, cots, mats, lamps, among other items, were delivered.
The Foreign Minister stressed that humanitarian aid is sent to Haiti “as instructed by President López Obrador.” On the morning of Saturday, August 14, Haitians felt a 7.2-degree earthquake that devastated the region. On the first day, civil protection already had a count of approximately 1,297 deaths. The most affected region has been the south of the island, where 1,054 people have died.
“We decided to support and we will continue to do so because nothing human is alien to us, and forget about borders, you must apply universal brotherhood ”, the President said when he announced the aid that would be sent by his administration to the Caribbean island.
Haitian Civil Protection also announced that the humanitarian aid received yesterday will begin to be distributed today, with the aim of helping both the cities and the most remote areas of the island. From the United States, through USAID, 26 tons of tools and equipment, 65 rescuers, and 4 dogs that will assist in the rescue efforts also arrived on the island.
11 years ago another earthquake occurred, with 7.0 degrees of intensity, which left more than 200,000 people dead. That was the beginning of a wave of humanitarian aid that began to arrive in Haiti and has not stopped since. Even well into the recovery stage, aid from foreign countries continued to reach the island.
