Mexico sends 19 tons of food and supplies to Haiti after earthquake

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Mexican government has sent 19 tons of food and emergency supplies to Haiti after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that has left more than 1,300 dead in that country.

“We decided to support, and we will continue to do so because nothing human is alien to us, and forget about borders, we need to apply the criterion, the principle, of universal fraternity”, informed Monday the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The head of the National Coordination of Civil Protection (CNPC), Laura Velázquez, detailed that two aircraft of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) have left carrying 15.4 tons, including 1,500 food supplies, almost one ton of medicines, as well as powdered milk and bottled water.

Likewise, he added that the Navy’s Secretariat (Semar) mobilized 3.6 tons of emergency supplies in an airplane, including blankets, hygiene kits, lamps, wheelbarrows, shovels, and other tools.

“We have to identify that there is a generalized collapse in the country, today it was reported that all health institutions are lost or inoperable, and we have been asked for concrete support,” commented Velázquez.

The aid is being sent after the tremor, one of the ten most lethal earthquakes in Latin America in the last 25 years, registered on Saturday some 12 kilometers from the town of Saint-Louis du Sud, with an epicenter 10 kilometers deep.

In their last official report, the authorities raised the death toll to 1,297 and the number of injured to 5,700, although the figures have been constantly updated as rescue work progresses.

“We will continue to support and those who voluntarily can also do so, we will establish a mechanism to provide solidarity with Haiti,” promised López Obrador.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry declared a state of emergency due to the earthquake, which took place in the midst of the political crisis caused by the assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moise, on July 7.

“Unfortunately, an earthquake affected Haiti, already an impoverished people, with political problems as well, the president has just been assassinated, and there is a situation of great instability, and this other misfortune has befallen them,” said the Mexican president.