Above: Nigel Fisher, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti (UN Photo/Victoria Hazou)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Calling the international response to the Consolidated Appeal for Haiti “disappointing,” Nigel Fisher, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti, said the country still needed $81 million to meet its humanitarian needs this year.

Fisher, urging the donor community not to turn its back on Haiti, said only $47 million was financed from the budget of the Total Consolidated Appeal for 2012, an amount that originally was projected at $231 million.

Faced with this financial reality, he said, the budget of the Consolidated Appeal was revised down significantly, and now stands at $128 million.

Despite the shortfall, Fisher said “significant progress has been made in Haiti for humanitarian response and recovery from the devastating earthquake of January 2010.”

Of the revised $128 million total, $81 million is still needed to meet Haiti’s “critical humanitarian needs,” he said, from the fight against cholera to preparation and response for the hurricane season.

“We urgently need the continued support of people and governments around the world to help people desperately in need and to give hope to families and communities whose lives and livelihoods have been disrupted by natural disasters, epidemics and hunger.”