HAITI: Tarps, Not Tents, Please

HAITI: Tarps, Not Tents, Please, IRIN, February 11, 2010 With the rainy season just weeks away in Haiti, where over a million people are still living in the open, there is an urgent need for waterproof shelter best met by tarps rather than tents, according to aid workers. “Shipping in enough family tents for all the people in need would take months – too late to beat the rainy season [due to start late March],” international NGO CARE warned in a statement on 11 February. “By contrast, shipments of sturdy, reusable 6m-by-4m tarps (plastic sheeting) can arrive in Haiti in days or weeks. This will keep people dry while aid agencies start implementing a longer-term solution to the shelter crisis,” the statement added. More...