More than 10,000 people have been displaced by violence that broke out in late September in Gros-Morne, in the Artibonite, and almost all of them are staying with host families, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday, October 21, citing the International Organization for Migration (IOM). HaitiLibre reported his remarks on October 25.

Dujarric said violence was also still driving people from their homes after an armed attack earlier that week in Petite-Rivière de l'Artibonite, where the authorities reported sporadic gunfire that was making it hard to move around the town. The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, is working with partners and local authorities to follow the situation and assess the needs of displaced families.

Humanitarian work has resumed despite the insecurity, he said. In October, aid partners handed out 1,500 hot meals and hygiene kits, and they planned to distribute more than 2,000 kits with cooking utensils and plastic sheeting the following week. Roads to people in need remain open, but insecurity still puts aid operations at risk, and he called again for safe, rapid and unhindered access.

Across the country, the IOM and its partners managed 60 displacement sites in September and assisted a total of 74,463 displaced people, HaitiLibre reported on October 24. The Artibonite, the West and the Centre are under a state of emergency until December 18.