Malteser International Newsflash:
Earthquake Haďti
Press Release, January 14, 2010
Earthquake Haiti: First Malteser International
team on its way
Further teams on stand-by
Port au Prince/Duesseldorf/Cologne.The medical team headed by Malteser International
emergency relief coordinator Dr. Georg Nothelle
has left Duesseldorf airport via
New York for
Haiti
today – 14 January - at 12.10
am. The scheduled route via
Paris
was cancelled at short notice due to a strike of
the local air controllers. Nothelle is
accompanied by two emergency doctors and
anaesthetists and the head of the emergency
rescue services of Malteser Germany. In Haiti the team will be strengthened by two
medical experts of Malteser France as well as by
two members of the US-associations of the Order
of
Malta.
In Santo Domingo
the international team will be received by the
Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Haiti
and accompanied on its way to
Port-au-Prince. Upon
arrival in
Haiti
it will be the first taske of the team to
collect information and coordinate its relief
measures with the other relief organisations on
the ground. And - of course - the team will
immediately start to provide first aid and
medical assistance. The mission of this first
team is scheduled for one week; further teams
are on stand-by.
In addition, the emergency relief
activities will also be backed by a hospital in
the north of Haiti
that has been supported by the Order of Malta for years. The hospital provides 64 beds and has a
children’s ward, a maternity unit, an outpatient
department and a modern laboratory; it is the
only hospital in the region.
According to present estimations, the
death toll is at tens of thousands of people and
the total number of people affected by the
earthquake at up to three million. Due to the
bad infrastructure experts fear a breakout of
epidemics and infections - the disaster beyond
the disaster.
Malteser
International is the worldwide relief agency of
the Sovereign Order of Malta for humanitarian
aid. The organisation provides aid in about 200
projects in more than 20 countries without
distinction of religion, race or political
persuasion. Christian values and the
humanitarian principles of impartiality and
independence are the foundation of its work. For
further information:
www.malteser-international.org
and
www.orderofmalta.int
For its emergency relief in Haiti, Malteser International is in
urgent need of support.
- Join our network of relief:
1.
You can use the following donation account :
Donation Account 2020122; Pax-Bank Köln, von-Werth-Str.
25-27, D-50670 Köln, Germany,
Sort Code : 370 60 193; IBAN : DE93 3706 0193
0002 0201 22; BIC: GENODED1PAX,
Reference :
“Earthquake
relief Haiti”
2.
You can also use your association’s donation
account and afterwards transfer the money to the
account stated above.
Malteser International will be gladly prepared
to provide interview partners; just contact: Petra Ipp-Zavazal, Senior Desk
Officer Communications, phone ++49 221 98 22
151,
e-mail:
petra.ipp@malteser-international.org
