The government of Jair Bolsonaro is expected to send a humanitarian aid plane to Haiti, a country affected last Saturday (14) by an earthquake that killed at least 1,941 people.
The preparations for the mission have been discussed in recent days. According to Itamaraty, the forecast is that a plane with a team of firefighters and donated drugs will leave over the weekend.
Also according to the ministry, the firefighters who must make up the team are experts in search and rescue in collapsed urban structures. The record also indicates that the medicine kits and supplies for emergency pharmaceutical assistance were donated by the Ministry of Health.
The aircraft used will be a KC-390 Millennium freighter, manufactured by Embraer Defense.
“The Brazilian government is closely following the unfolding of the earthquake that struck Haiti on August 14 and reaffirms its firm commitment to continue humanitarian aid to this country,” Itamaraty said in a statement.
On Monday (16), during a Navy exercise in Formosa (GO), President Bolsonaro said the government had received a request to send aid to the Haitian population.
“Our Armed Forces have given practical demonstrations around the world, in various operations. As now, we are again called upon for a humanitarian relief mission in Haiti, ”he said at the time.
In addition to the earthquake, Haiti was hit this week by Storm Grace, which caused torrential rains and flooding. In the Cayes region, on the south coast of the country, one of the most affected by the storm was a complex of tents erected to shelter families displaced by the earthquake.
The coastal city had already been one of the most affected by the earthquake, which mainly affected the departments in the southwest of the country. The road infrastructure is damaged due to landslides, and several buildings, such as hotels, churches and hospitals, with destroyed or compromised.
The earthquake struck Haiti at a time of serious political crisis, sparked by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the contention for power that followed.
In 2010, another earthquake killed more than 200,000 people. Between 2004 and 2017, Brazilian generals exercised the military command of MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti).
After the end of the mission, the UN maintained operations in the country to train the judiciary and train the police force.