The General Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC) informs us that on Wednesday September 7, individuals, most of whom were heavily armed, attacked the Departmental Emergency Operations Center (COUD) which they looted.

"The looters broke into the courtyard of the COUD of the Grand’Anse around 12:15 p.m. and took the opportunity to seize material and equipment in the emergency warehouse and in several containers. The losses are substantial and these goods did not belong only to the Departmental Civil Protection."

The DPC "denounces and deplores" this act of looting, emphasizing "[...] such actions have caused significant losses of resources dedicated to emergency response as well as supplies supplied and stored by other humanitarian partners, such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Food Program (WFP), and the Public Enterprise for Promotion and Social Housing (EPPLS). It is regrettable that materials stored by the Haitian Red Cross and intended for the construction and equipping of two hospitals in Corail and Pestel were also stolen. All these losses in this global socio-economic context weaken the National Risk Management System, the intervention capacities of which are already limited."

As an institution evolving and working in the coordination of humanitarian interventions, buildings or parts of buildings, rolling stock and any other material used for the needs of emergency operations centers are inviolable.

The departmental authorities opened an investigation after this looting, while taking steps to better secure the COUD.

HL/ HaitiLibre