ActionAid is distributing tarpaulin sheets to 3,000 families – 18,000 people – in earthquake-struck areas of Haiti.

The sheets have already been given out to more than 800 families in Mariani district just outside Port-au-Prince where ActionAid is working in six camps and the rest will be distributed this week.

The United Nations has advised that tarpaulins rather than tents are more suitable in the crowded urban areas of Port-au-Prince where more than a million people were made homeless by the earthquake on January 12.

Dorcilien Donald, 18, lives with his pregnant girlfriend in a camp in Mariani where ActionAid works. “Before getting tarpaulin sheet from ActionAid, we used a bed sheet over our heads to sleep at night,” he said. “Now with the tarpaulin, we have been able to make a small shelter with a bed. We no longer have to run from the rain.”

Daniel Gedeon, ActionAid’s Emergency Response Manager in Haiti, said: “The rains have started in Port-au-Prince and people will find it very difficult to cope without tents or tarpaulin sheets. It is extremely important that the people get plastic sheeting or tarpaulins to waterproof what little shelter they have, otherwise they will find it very hard to cope through the next few months.”

ActionAid is continuing to distribute food to 18,000 people in Mariani and in Jacmel, a city in the south of Haiti which was also hard hit by the earthquake.

In addition, ActionAid has distributed other emergency relief items such as blankets, kitchen equipment, toothbrushes, towels and clothing to thousands of families. More than 1,300 people have received basic health services through a link up with Cuban-trained doctors and 12,000 people are being helped with emotional care through ActionAid–trained community volunteers.

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