Slovenia Sending Tents to Haiti

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Slovenia's Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief on Thursday sent 25 tents worth some EUR 70,000 to Haiti to provide shelter for some 300 people who were left homeless in a devastating earthquake that hit the island on 12 January. Slovenia decided not to send experts but material aid because of the great distance between Slovenia and Haiti and because of the logistic problems the humanitarian staff is facing there, said the head of the administration Boris Balant.

"Given the circumstances in that part of the world we believe that this kind of aid is appropriate and timely," Balant told the press after the aid was dispatched to Austria, from where it will be flown to Haiti.

According to Balant, the plane carrying the tents should take off from the Vienna airport on Saturday or Sunday. The aircraft will also carry tents that Austria is sending to the Carribean country, and some other countries might join the initiative, he added. Slovenia will pay half of the EUR 30,000 of the plane costs, while the other half will be covered by the EU.

The Slovenian government allocated EUR 50,000 in aid to Haiti as early as two days after the devastating 7.0-magnitude quake.

Balat explained that Slovenia was constantly monitoring the situation in Haiti and is responding to the needs of the people in any way it can.

Also joining the relief efforts have been Slovenian branches of worldwide charities Caritas, Red Cross and UNICEF. Last week they opened donation bank accounts to raise money for the troubled country.

By Wednesday the money raised topped EUR 150,000. Most funds, more that EUR 67,000, were raised by UNICEF, while Caritas and Red Cross contributed EUR 55,000 and EUR 25,000, respectively.

The quake, which was centred just outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, reportedly took 200,000 lives and left two million people homeless.

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