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Emergency relief organisation Medair is sending a team of shelter and health advisors to Ecuador to assist those affected by the earthquake
Lausanne, Switzerland. April 26 2016 ̶ On April 16, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Ecuador. As a result, more than 600 people are dead and more than 12,000 injured. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed or damaged. Some 29,000 people have sought refuge in emergency collective shelters while many thousands more may have no shelter at all.
Medair has been carefully monitoring the situation to assess how best to meet the needs of people in heavily affected and hard-to-reach areas.
“This earthquake has had a devastating effect. Since it struck, we have been in close contact with our partners on the ground”, said Manuel Jagourd, Head of Medair’s Emergency Response Team. “With health and shelter needs increasing very rapidly, we have decided to deploy specialists from our team. They will provide their expertise and participate in recovery efforts.”
The Medair team will arrive in Ecuador tomorrow and immediately start to carry out assessments.
Medair is an international relief agency headquartered in Switzerland. We help people who are suffering in remote and devastated communities around the world survive crises and recover with dignity, regardless of race, creed, or nationality.
Medair is a member of the Integral Alliance, a global alliance of Christian relief and development agencies.
For media
Media enquiries should be directed to: Nathalie Fauveau, Press Relations Officer (French, English, German) at Medair’s headquarters, nathalie.fauveau@medair.org +41 (0)21 694 84 72 or +41 (0)78 635 30 95.
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