LONDON, January 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A Boeing 747 passenger aircraft donated by British Airways is transporting 40 metric-tonnes (MT) of UNICEF humanitarian supplies for use in Haiti.
The aircraft left London Heathrow Airport Saturday morning and will make a special trip to Billund Airport (approximately 260 km from Copenhagen) to be loaded with UNICEF essential emergency supplies, including: tarpaulins, plastic sheets, 7 large tents (72 sq m), Early Childhood Development kits (including art materials, books and games), multivitamins, and a range of health and medical kits such as surgical, obstetric, and inter-agency health, and diarrhoeal disease kits.
The aircraft has a cargo capacity of 50MT, 40 of which is being used by UNICEF and the remaining 10 has been offered to Oxfam water and sanitation supplies.
In Haiti, UNICEF is the cluster lead on water, sanitation, nutrition and health and Oxfam supplies will be part of the UNICEF-led operation in the relief effort.
The plane is expected to leave Billund Saturday evening (GMT) and be in the Dominican Republic by Saturday night (Caribbean time).
The plane will land in Santo Domingo where UNICEF will work with partners on the ground to identify the safest means for transportation by road or air to Haiti.
The large coordination efforts will be assisted by two UNICEF Supply specialists from Copenhagen who will be arriving with the BA flight. One will remain in Santo Domingo and the other will proceed to Port-au-Prince.
One of their first tasks will be to set up large storage capacity tents to house incoming supplies.
A WFP plane is scheduled to leave Dubai Saturday carrying 30MT of UNICEF goods including recreational kits, plastic mats and tents.
A DHL chartered plane is transporting another 45MT of supplies from UNICEF's Panama hub for Port au Prince on Saturday. These supplies include water testing kits, inter-agency health kits, Early Childhood Development kits, School-in-a-Box, Recreation kits, water containers, tents, tarpaulins, rope, and water purification tablets. These supplies can cover an additional 20,000 families.
UNICEF does not receive any money from the Disaster Emergency Committee nor from the UN. It relies solely on public donations. An appeal fund has been launched and members of the public can donate through www.unicef.org.uk or by telephoning 0800 316 5353.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
UNICEF personnel in Haiti are available for interview.
High resolution photos will become available later Saturday.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is the world's leading organisation working for children and their rights in more than 190 countries. As champion of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF works to help every child realise their full potential. Together with our partners, UNICEF delivers health care, nutrition, education and protection to children in urgent need, while working with governments to ensure they deliver on their promise to protect and promote the rights of every child. UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations from individuals, governments, institutions and corporations, and is not funded by the UN budget. For more information, please visit http://www.unicef.org.uk.
For more information, please contact: Terry Ally, Senior Media Officer, International Programmes and Emergencies, UNICEF UK, Tel: +44(0)20-7375-6014, 24-hour Press Line: +44(0)20-7336-8922
SOURCE: Unicef UK
CONTACT: For more information, please contact: Terry Ally, Senior MediaOfficer, International Programmes and Emergencies, UNICEF UK, Tel:+44(0)20-7375-6014, 24-hour Press Line: +44(0)20-7336-8922
Comments