Brasília – The National Food Supply Company (Conab) is going to donate another 200 tonnes of food to the victims of the earthquake that devastated the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, two weeks ago. The food, to be supplied by the National Secretariat of Civil Defence and the Conab warehouse, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, includes 100 tonnes of rice, 30 tonnes of bean, 20 tonnes of cassava flour, 10 tonnes of spaghetti, 20 tonnes of sugar and 10 tonnes of milk powder, plus 20,000 litres of water.
The items will be divided into more than 10,000 basic food baskets. According to the Conab, the Brazilian government has already delivered 60 tonnes of food to the Haitian population, 80% of which were donated by the Conab.
Last week, Brazilian agribusiness companies and organizations announced the donation of 130 tonnes of food – 65 tonnes of canned meat, 13 tonnes of sugar, 39 tonnes of evaporated milk (a denser variety) and 13 tonnes of orange juice – to be shipped to Haiti in Brazilian Air Force aircraft.
The Conab informed that it has been a part of the Haiti Humanitarian Aid Program since 2004, and shipped over 16,000 tonnes of food to the Caribbean country ever since.
Medical unit
Yesterday (26th), in the city of Porto Alegre, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, announced that he is going to establish, in Haiti, an Emergency Care Unit to help provide treatment to the country’s population, alongside the Air Force hospital.
“On the 25th next month I will be in Haiti, and possibly within 30 days we are going to build an emergency care unit covering nearly 2,150 square metres,” said Lula, while attending the World Social Forum, in Porto Alegre.
Speaking to an audience of over 7,000 at the Gigantinho stadium, the president also talked about the role of the military peacekeeping forces in Haiti, which has been under Brazilian coordination for the last five years.
Lula, who passed a Provisional Measure for 375 million Brazilian reals (US$ 204 million) to be sent to Haiti, stated that the National Congress has approved the sending of over 900 soldiers to the region, with the objective of enhancing the humanitarian mission.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
