My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made the following Statement.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck Haiti near the capital Port-au-Prince on the evening of 12 January. During the course of last week, smaller but still significant aftershocks continued to affect the area around Port-au-Prince. The situation for an estimated 3 million Haitians remains precarious.

It is clear that this is a human tragedy of enormous proportions. The United Nations estimates that at least 2 million people will require immediate relief assistance for the next six months. So far, the Government of Haiti say that 150,000 people are confirmed dead and the Haitian Interior Minister estimates that the total death toll may reach 200,000.

Following my Written Statement to the House on 19 January, British officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have been in contact with over 70 British nationals in Haiti, who have confirmed that they are safe and well, and we are co-ordinating with US, Canadian and EU partners to facilitate an assisted departure for any British nationals who wish to leave Haiti. We have received reports that other British nationals are missing, but we do not have any further information at this stage.

The British public have responded with generosity to the Disaster Emergency Committee appeal, which has so far raised over £42 million. I pay tribute to the work of the Disaster Emergency Committee, its NGO members and the British public for this remarkable response.

The British Government have moved very quickly with our response. The UK search and rescue teams were in Haiti for over a week, carrying out their lifesaving work, including pulling three people from the rubble alive, arranging medical evacuations, treating the wounded and helping the United Nations to co-ordinate the overall search and rescue effort. After consulting with the United Nations, we concluded that they had done all that they could and that the rescue effort was moving on to another phase. The British team returned to the United Kingdom on Saturday 22 January, at the same time as other international search and rescue teams headed home. The United Kingdom should be incredibly proud of their efforts.

We have also committed £1 million for the International Federation of the Red Cross to provide food, shelter, water and other immediate needs for 20,000 families; £2 million for the World Food Programme for transport and logistics; £1 million to assist with aid co-ordination to ensure that the right aid reaches those who need it quickly; £300,000 for the World Health Organisation for disease surveillance to help to prevent epidemics; and a further £2.5 million to NGOs with established operations on the ground—Oxfam, Action Against Hunger and Handicap International—to deliver clean water, shelter, medical care and food for 160,000 earthquake victims.

On 19 January, as the scale of the disaster that had unfolded in Haiti became clearer, the British Government announced a tripling of our humanitarian aid to £20 million. The additional funding will enable our support to extend beyond immediate humanitarian relief. Over the next four or five days, we are sending a further three flights with non-food items such as shelter kits, jerry cans and blankets. The United Kingdom’s Stabilisation Unit is deploying civilian experts and supplies to help to restore vital government functions. A team of three from the unit has already deployed with equipment including vehicles, field offices and communications equipment to support British efforts and strengthen co-ordination with other partners in Haiti.

We have also taken the decision to deploy the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship “Largs Bay”, to carry further vital relief goods. The ship is expected to depart by the end of the month and will help to assure continuity of supply of vital goods such as food, shelter and medical supplies. Following a request from the United Nations, it is expected to stay on to assist in distributing supplies around Haiti.

We continue to support strengthened co-ordination by the United Nations and the Government of Haiti. The United Nations Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has rapidly increased its staffing to co-ordinate relief on the ground. The humanitarian clusters are accelerating their work and we are exploring options for further help to the shelter clusters. The Prime Minister spoke with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon last week and subsequently with President Obama to discuss how both countries could support the United Nations in their roles. The Prime Minister welcomed the role played by President Clinton as UN Special Envoy to Haiti and that of acting Special Representative Edmond Mullet.

The United States military is playing a crucial role in supporting the humanitarian effort, keeping the airport functioning, clearing the port and enabling aid to get where it needs to. It is working well with the United Nations in support of the international relief effort.

Aid is now getting through to affected communities but the pace of delivery needs to be accelerated. So far, over 500,000 people have received assistance. By 22 January, there were over 120 water distribution points in Port-au-Prince. The Government of Haiti have identified six formalised settlements to house 120,000 people and work has started to build them. Medical provision is also improving and the United Nations has announced that there are now enough doctors and surgeons in the country. There are at least nine field hospitals operational in Haiti as well as a 1,000-bed hospital ship and six more on the way. The Department for International Development provided funding for an assessment team and a specialised surgical team from Merlin, which are now working on the ground in Port-au-Prince.

More still needs to be done. A shortage of trucks and fuel, exacerbated by the airport’s limited capacity to receive, warehouse and dispatch relief supplies, continues to hamper relief efforts in and around Port-au-Prince. Over 200,000 people have left Port-au-Prince for other parts of Haiti and as many as 800,000 people are believed to be reliant on temporary shelters. Our early contribution to the World Food Programme for logistical support has helped, and RFA “Largs Bay” will transport more trucks to help with aid distribution. Ministers are liaising at the highest level with the relevant authorities to unblock bottlenecks.

The situation for many survivors in Haiti remains precarious. In these difficult circumstances, it is notable how civil society in Haiti has come together in the face of personal tragedy. I am meeting with faith leaders today to discuss how to support the work of church networks in Haiti and others in bringing people together. The British Government will support Haitians in this task.

We continue to follow the security situation very closely, both for our teams and for the wider operation, and share the concerns expressed by the United Nations that the relatively stable situation could deteriorate. Following Security Council Resolution 1908 to bolster the Haitian peacekeeping mission with an additional 2,000 troops and 1,500 police, we congratulate countries offering additional personnel and urge the speedy deployment of these peacekeepers in their humanitarian role.

Once the relief phase is over, it is essential that the international community does not forget about Haiti. We welcome the efforts that multilaterals are already making to support the recovery and reconstruction. We expect our contribution to be through our very substantial support to multilaterals and we are looking urgently at ways of providing longer-term support for Haiti through the European Commission, the World Bank and other multilaterals. To this end, the European Union Foreign Affairs Council meeting of Development Ministers on Monday 18 January pledged longer-term reconstruction funding as well as significant funding for humanitarian support. Also, today member countries from the long established grouping the Friends of Haiti will meet in Montreal to start the planning process for a major conference in the spring on post-emergency reconstruction, which we fully expect to attend. Leading multilaterals will also attend the Montreal meeting and the United Kingdom will be represented by the European Union delegation.

Going forward, it is clear that Haiti will need grant assistance and development support for the foreseeable future and on terms consistent with its future debt sustainability. The United Kingdom has already cancelled all debts owed by Haiti as part of the heavily indebted poor countries initiative in June 2009. We will continue to play our part in responding to the short-term and long-term needs of the Haitian people.