The United Nations reports significant progress has been made in providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of quake victims in Haiti. A senior U.N. official says the relief operation is being scaled up on all levels, with shelter topping the list of priorities.
The United Nations says things may be improving, but the crisis in earthquake-devastated Haiti is far from over. U.N. officials report nearly one-half million people have left the capital Port-au-Prince for outlying areas. They say 90 percent of these people are staying with host families who are in need of assistance.
联合国表示，尽管情况可能有所改善，遭受地震灾害的海地经受的危机还远远没有结束。联合国官员报告说，有将近50万人已经从首都太子港搬往周边地区。他们说，这些人中有90%被寄宿家庭收留，这些家庭需要援助。
U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes calls Haiti a particularly difficult and complicated operation. He says he understands the frustration of aid workers who are not able to quickly reach the survivors with desperately needed assistance.
联合国负责人道主义救援事务的副秘书长霍姆斯说，在海地的行动是一次特别困难和复杂的行动。他说，他理解一些援救工作者的沮丧情绪，因为他们无法迅速帮助那些急需帮助的幸存者。
"What I think we can see now is that we are beginning to make really significant progress in doing that, particularly on the food side, but, in some other areas as well," Holmes said. "So, the scaling up is happening significantly now ... But, we still have a significant way to go before we reach everybody with the aid that they need."
霍姆斯说：“我想我们现在看到的是，我们开始在这方面有了重大的进展，特别是食物方面，不过在其他方面也有进展。所以，目前的救援力度已经显著增加，但是要为所有人提供他们需要的援助，我们还有很长的路要走。”
Holmes says health care for the injured and sick is getting better, although it still is not good. He notes most life-saving operations have taken place. But vital drugs are still lacking, and there need to be more surveillance systems to monitor the outbreak of epidemics.
霍姆斯说，为伤者和病患提供的医疗服务有所改善，尽管仍然不太乐观。他指出，大部分救死扶伤的手术已经进行完毕。但是仍然缺乏重要的药品，而且需要有更多监测系统以监控流行疫情的爆发。
He says most people are receiving water, but sanitation must be improved and 7,000 latrines must be built in Port-au-Prince. He says more people are receiving food and the World Food Program aims to reach two million people in the next 10 days.
他说，大部分人目前都能得到水，但是必须改善饮用水的卫生条件，而且必须在太子港修建7千个公共厕所。他说，有更多的人得到了食物，世界粮食计划署的目标是在今后10天内为两百万人供应食物。
"The number of people being reached with the basic food they need, rice and ready-to-eat meals where appropriate is scaling up in the way we all want to see," Holmes said. "That is an operation that is being conducted on the basis of coupons and so it can be more easily targeted than the very quick and dirty distributions, if I call it that way, which were being used in the first couple of weeks. So, I think there is good progress being made there."
霍姆斯说：“得到基本食物、米饭和适当的即时餐的人数正如我们希望的那样在上升。这个分发食品的行动是以优惠券的形式进行的，所以比那些我所说的非常迅速但是不正当的发放方式更容易有针对性。那种方式在一开始的两个星期里被广泛使用。所以我认为在那方面正取得不错的进展。”
Holmes says tens of thousands of people will need tents, plastic sheets and tarpaulins before the rainy and hurricane seasons start in a few months. He says there are not many tents in Haiti, but 50,000 tents are in the pipeline and are expected to arrive shortly.
霍姆斯说，在几个月后即将开始的雨季和飓风季节到来前，成千上万的人需要帐篷、塑料布和防雨篷布。他表示海地现在没有很多帐篷，但是有5万顶帐篷已经就绪，预计会很快送达。
"I think there was a desire to avoid creating large camps, which have a tendency to become permanent over time rather than temporary," Holmes said. "There is a problem of space for large camps, certainly in the immediate vicinity of Port-au-Prince. Therefore, it was also clear to people looking at this that people did not want to go away from Port-au-Prince into large camps. They wanted to stay close to their homes."
霍姆斯说：“我认为人们希望避免建造大型的营地，这种营地过一段时间后一般会成为永久性而非暂时性的。大型营地有一个占地空间的问题，肯定这在太子港附近地区是个问题。因此，那些在考虑大型营地的人们也很清楚，大家都不愿意从太子港搬到大型营地，他们想留在离家近的地方。”
U.N. humanitarian chief Holmes says many of the quake survivors are still in the rubble of their own homes because they want to be close to where they used to live and work.
霍姆斯表示，许多地震幸存者仍然留在他们自家的废墟中，因为他们想要靠近他们曾经工作和居住的地方。 |