ROME- On the eve of the one year anniversary marking the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Executive Director of WFP Josette Sheeran has stated how “much remains to be done”.

While Sheeran praised the efforts of aid workers and what has been achieved in the year since the earthquake, she equally underscored the necessity of collaboration with other UN Agencies, the Haitian government and with civil society at large to unite in a “humanitarian project that is far from finished”.

A year on from the disaster, the reverberations of Haiti’s earthquake are still acutely felt, particularly in rural areas. “Poor, vulnerable, agriculture-dependent communities suffer some of the most severe consequences of natural disasters,” said FAO Senior Emergency and Rehabilitation Coordinator for Haiti Etienne Peterschmitt.

Since the earthquake, FAO and the Agriculture Cluster partners, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture have contributed to the food security of almost three million people through the wide-spread delivery of crop and vegetable seeds and the distribution of agricultural tools.

These efforts however, have also needed to counteract the widespread damage caused by the cholera outbreak in north-western Haiti and the November floods triggered by hurricane Tomas which damaged up to 78 000 hectares of crops. The hurricane, and the subsequent flooding, caused the disease to spread further in these areas, precisely those where many of those displaced by the earthquake had taken refuge.

Today, FAO and WFP are aiming to support Haiti’s long-term recovery from its one year old disaster. In her statement today Sheeran pledged: ” WFP was there before the quake, and we will remain for as long as it takes to provide a firm and sustainable nutritional foundation for a future free from hunger”.