Plane Packed With Food, Medicine Heads To Haiti
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Hurricane Matthew left a path of damage, destruction and death in its wake.
While it primarily skirted the coast of the U.S. causing moderate damage and a few deaths, it roared over southwestern Haiti with 145 mph winds which leveled wood and tin homes, severe damaged more sturdy buildings and killed hundreds.
Those who survived were forced to find shelter and food. International aid came in as soon as it was safe and has been steadly flowing in ever since.
On Tuesday 80,000 pounds of food and 80,000 pounds of medicine, packed on more than 100 pallets, were loaded onto a Western Global flight bound for Port au Prince.
"This is pretty dire. There are 800,000 people in need of food, 1.4 million people in need of assistance aside from all the people who are still recovering from the earthquake," said Steve Smith with Airlink.
Airlink, humanitarian organization, decided on a rapid response mission to help the Haitian people in dire need.
"Right now one of the challenges in Haiti is the south where most of the impact damage happened and 95% of the infrastructure was damaged, all the crops were destroyed," said Smith.
Another serious problem in Haiti is the outbreak of cholera. Smith said the medicine being sent will help treat it.
Airlink, which is working with a number of nonprofit organization's like Medshare and AmeriCares, will be doing all they can to make sure the relief supplies get to the people who need it most.
"Even though it is not so far away, time saves lives. We've got many organizations on the ground doing their job, more is more to help these people being affected," said Smith
Connecticut, Texas and Washington are just a few of the places where the supplies have come from to help the people of Haiti. Tuesday's was the second to relief flight, a third is now in the works.