Haitian authorities issued a distressing statistical update of a nation and a people in peril on Feb. 6. Approximately 212,000 people are now believed dead and 300,000 injured. More than 1.2 million people are in spontaneous settlements, and 467,701 people have left Port-au-Prince for outlying regions. Only 272,000 out of an estimated 1.2 million displaced persons have received emergency shelter support. Sanitation in temporary settlement sites remains a concern, with less than 5 percent of needs being met. Aid agencies estimate that 18,000 latrines are needed in Port-au-Prince to support 900,000 people. With the arrival of thousands of people from Port-au-Prince in villages along the border with the Dominican Republic, the food security situation, which was already precarious, is getting worse. An estimated 17,500 children are suffering from acute malnutrition and 3,100 of these are severely malnourished and in need of life-saving assistance.
Haiti's Status: Grim
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