Access to Haitian areas affected by hurricane improving, UN relief wing says

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that access to areas affected by Hurricane Matthew is improving, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Wednesday.

The International Organisation for Migration has sent 34 truckloads, which represents 150 metric tonnes of supplies, to Jérémie and Les Cayes, Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

Some 28,000 families have already benefitted from this assistance with another 13,000 families to receive critical supplies in the coming days, he said.

However, the 120-million-U.S. dollar flash appeal remains critically under-funded at just 28 percent, the spokesman added.

Hurricane Matthew killed more than 1,000 people in Haiti when it struck on Oct. 4, leaving more than 175,000 without homes, and over a million more struggling to survive in what UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called "absolute devastation."

Less than two weeks after the hurricane attack, at least 200 suspected new cases of cholera have been detected in the country, according to WHO.

Aid agencies fear that without a major effort by the international community, survivors of the storm will face a fresh outbreak of the disease. Endit