Haiti: "We are in a race against time" (UN Secretary-General)

United Nations, New York, 16 March 2010 - I am just back from a one-day visit where I discussed the way ahead with President [René] Préval, Prime Minister [Jean-Max] Bellerive and other Government ministers and civil society leaders. For Haiti, too, we need a concrete, well-thought-out plan for the future. I therefore asked President Préval and his government to come to the donor's conference in New York, later this month, March 31st, with an agenda of Haiti's national priorities and a strategic action plan for the country's recovery and reconstruction. We are at a critical moment. During a visit to a camp for displaced persons in Port au Prince, I saw nearly 50,000 people crowded into a tent city on a former golf course. When the rains come -- as they will in a very few weeks -- the entire site will be flooded. We have plans for moving these people to safer ground, and for erecting better shelter, but we need the world's help. So far, we have distributed tents and tarpaulins to nearly 700,000 people among 1.3 million displaced persons. We will reach the rest by the end of next month. We have also identified five alternative sites around the capital, where we can move IDPs and where they will be safer and better cared for. But let me be clear: we are in a race against time. And now is the time for the international community to stand by Haiti. The last thing the Haitian people need is a second humanitarian crisis on top of all they have suffered already.