Urgent need for tents in Haiti

Two weeks after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Haitian President Rene Preval has made an urgent appeal for additional tents to help house those left homeless.

According to BBC news, on Monday, President Preval issued a statement from Port-au-Prince, calling for the need of 200,000 more tents before the start of the rainy season in May.

President Preval, whose house was destroyed, is planning to move into a tent on the lawn of the destroyed National Palace. The Haitian government plans to relocate some 400,000 people, currently in makeshift camps across Port-au-Prince, to temporary tent villages outside the city.

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On the medical side, we’re getting there, and we now face a big challenge over shelter and camps and getting people into tents and off the streets,” John Holmes, the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, told BBC news.