PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Nearly 142,000 tons of emergency food have been stockpiled throughout Haiti this hurricane season, the United Nations said.
The preparations, by aid agencies working with U.N. programs, would sustain more than a half-million people for at least a month if the worst happens and Haiti is hit by several hurricanes, as it was last year, U.N. officials said at a news conference Friday in Port au Prince.
Nearly 800 people died and 1 million others were affected last year by hurricane damage and rivers of mud that clogged roadways and destroyed much of Haiti's harvest, U.N. spokesman Kemoral Jadjombaye said in a release.
The World Food Program is putting more than 60 all-terrain vehicles throughout Haiti for the 2009 hurricane season, which runs from mid-August to the end of November. Numerous helicopters also are on standby in case food and emergency supplies must be delivered to isolated areas, Jadjombaye said.
