|PIC1|Mission Aviation Fellowship is in Haiti responding to the huge needs in the wake of severe storms and flooding.

In the firing line of a series of tropical storms and hurricanes, Ike, the last hurricane to affect Haiti, compounded the devastation wrought by tropical storm Fay, hurricane Gustav and tropical storm Hanna.

The result is widespread flooding and significant storm damage. Many reports suggest that the death toll has surpassed 600, and hundreds of thousands of people are in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter.

With a base in Haiti since 1986, MAF has three aircraft in operation on the island. MAF planes have carried out emergency relief flights, evacuations of people trapped by floodwaters and survey flights to enable organisations to assess how best to respond to the devastation.

Ninety-eight per cent of the forests in Haiti have been cut down, leaving little natural defence against mud slides which can bury whole communities. Many roads are impassable due to flooding.

Pilot Will White flew to Hinche where he picked up two Americans working with an orphanage. The water in Hinche rose quickly but they were able to evacuate all the children to second-storey buildings and everyone was fine.

The MAF team purchased 400 sets of antibiotics to be delivered to a hospital outside Anse Rouge where two children, who became very sick after drinking contaminated water, died due to lack of antibiotics. The hospital is also lacking other medical supplies and food. Several people have died due to the shortages. As well as the medical supplies, MAF flew several boxes of food donated by Christian Aid Ministries.

Supplies have also been delivered to a mission orphanage in Pignon to help with its feeding programme.

With so many people in need of food and water, MAF said requests for flights were coming in from early morning until late evening.