OECS Commission Statement on Haiti Earthquake

OECS Media Statement

The OECS Commission has called on the international community to launch a swift, coordinated and aggressive relief effort to assist the people and Government of Haiti following the recent 5.9 magnitude earthquake which to date has left more than eleven dead and close to two hundred seriously injured.

Speaking from OECS Commission Headquarters, OECS Director General Dr. Didacus Jules said the OECS acknowledged the loss of life and damage to infrastructure and offered its deepest condolences to the bereaved and to the Governnment and people of Haiti.

We stand in strong solidarity with our Caribbean family in Haiti and urge a rapid international relief effort to support in particular Port-de-Paix and other regions where hospitals are struggling to cope in the aftermath.  

“Geographically, Haiti is among the most exposed nation globally to natural disasters and regrettably the least able economically to withstand such shocks both in terms an immediate response but long term recovery.  

"In the wake of other headline grabbing recent earthquakes and natural disasters, I urge the international community to remember that the size of a natural disaster does not always reflect the depth of human suffering.

"We urge international leadership to provide Haiti and its people not only the compassion but the emergency and development assistance of concerned and able nations all Haitians urgently need at this difficult time" said Dr. Jules.

Bernadette Auguste

International Relations Officer, OECS Commission

OECS Communication Unit

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

Get updates in your mailbox

By clicking "Subscribe" I confirm I have read and agree to the Privacy Policy.

About The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

Back to www.oecs.int

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has eleven members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

Contact

Morne Fortune Castries Saint Lucia

+1758-455-6377

media@oecs.int

www.oecs.int