国际英语新闻：UN appeals to world for $1.44 bln for Haiti

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN special envoy, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, on Thursday appealed to the world for 1.44 billion U.S. dollars to render humanitarian and early recovery assistance to the quake-hit Haiti.

The figure, the largest ever natural disaster appeal by the world body, will be used to help some three million people badly affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake, totaling 30 percent of the population in the small Caribben country.

Ban, who was with Clinton, made the remarks at the launch of revised Haiti Flash Appeal at the UN Headquarters in New York.

"Today, we are appealing to the international community for 1.4 billion dollars in humanitarian and early recovery assistance over the coming full year."

The amount, which will run from January to December 2010, updated an earlier flash appeal of 577 million, which was launched just three days after the quake, which claimed more than 200,000 lives.

"I am pleased to report that the 570-million-dollar Flash Appeal launched on Jan. 15 was 100 percent funded, with more than 41 million dollars pledged beyond that," Ban said. "To carry our work forward, however, we must again reach deeply into our hearts and resources, with solidarity and compassion."

More than 1.2 million people are in need of emergency shelter and require urgent sanitation and hygiene assistance. At least two million require food assistance. In addition, host families and communities are bearing much of the burden of supporting displaced people who fled the worst affected cities, and also need help.

"Over the next six weeks, we will deliver a further 30,000 tents and enough water-proof sheeting for 1 million people," Ban said. "We are also laying plans to build more substantial community shelters that can better withstand tropical storms."

The appeal seeks funding for the following main sectors: agriculture: camp coordination and management; coordination and support services; early recovery; education; emergency shelter and non-food items; emergency telecommunications; food aid; logistics; nutrition; protection; and water, sanitation and hygiene. About one-third of the 1.44 billion (or 480 million U.S. dollars) is required food.

"The overall security situation in Haiti remains calm," Ban said. "As you all know, the rainy season will soon be upon us. That puts a premium on shelter, sanitation and health."

For his part, the Haitian UN ambassador, Leo Merores, said, " Much more needs to be done," and "the need for tents, shelter has become extremely urgent."

Clinton said, "A lot of good work is being done. There is a plan in place that will be amended. the money will be spent in a transparent way."

"The biggest problem, in the short-term, is sanitation because everyone is moving into makeshift camps," Clinton said. "I wanted originally, compost toilets for everyone because you treat the waste you remove the disease and then turn it into fertilizer."

Clinton said that he met with young Haitian architects on Thursday, "who believes he has developed a plan for housing which is earthquake and hurricane resistant."

"Haitians aspire to have you come to Haiti as tourists, not donors," Clinton said. "They want to build a country that can stand on its own two feet."

The emergency phase of humanitarian relief operations will have to continue for many months. While improvements have been made in the ability to reach those in need with food, water, healthcare and shelter, humanitarian needs in Haiti remain great. Until the situation stabilizes, and given the urgent need to prepare for the rainy and hurricane seasons, relief and early recovery must increase and be expanded to more people and to so far unreached parts of the country.

"The particular complexity of an earthquake on this scale is that wee need to embark on early recovery, even as we provide emergency relief," he said. "Before last month's disaster, we had a plan for Haiti's long-term development and reconstruction. Our challenge today is to reformulate that plan to help Haitians ' build back better.'"

"We have to be engaged in Haiti for the long haul, for life- saving relief as well as reconstruction," said John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general and emergency relief coordinator. "To meet the needs of the people of Haiti will require more o the generous global support that we have seen so far."

Since the initial Flash Appeal was fully funded, with those funds being put against the new revised Humanitarian Appeal, and with some projects already having funding, unmet requirements for this emergency in 2010 are 768 million U.S. dollars.

The size of the revised appeal reflects the scale of the catastrophe, the unmet needs, and the necessity of putting into place the right early recovery basis for reconstruction. Like all appeals, this revised Haiti Humanitarian Appeal will be reviewed mid-year, and if necessary revised.

Previously, the largest natural disaster appeal was issued in 2005 for the Indian Ocean Earthquake-Tsunami, which sought some 1. 41 billion U.S. dollars.