International aid agency ActionAid has started distributing emergency food and medicines in
The organisation has sourced supplies of foods, including flour, sugar and rice in
According to the release, the agency plans to help up to 20,000 people overall in its emergency response.
Jean Claude Fignole, ActionAid's country director in
"The people we work with are getting high-energy emergency food until supplies of flour and cooking oil arrive in the next few days."
"They're drinking water direct from a stream and a spring near their makeshift camp, so we'll be giving out water purification tablets, to make sure people have safe water and to reduce the risk of disease."
"Our office was made unsafe in the earthquake, but we have got a makeshift office working in the garden of a colleague. Communications are slowly improving and we are getting aid from the outside world onto the streets of
"This is only the start. There is so much more to do," he stated.
On Monday ActionAid gave 2,500 people emergency food supplies and medicines in the Mariani area of
Over the coming week, ActionAid will bring in the following emergency supplies: 3,000 tents, 20,000 blankets, 1,000 boxes of nappies and 9,000 foam mattresses. Extra emergency staff have been sent to the area to help deliver the aid.
ActionAid will also be looking at protection of vulnerable sections, such as women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities, the release announced.
