Dominican Government Donates Two Mobile Kitchens to Haiti

The government of the Dominican Republic will donate two mobile kitchens to the Haitian authorities, in order for them to guarantee and maintain the food aid program for thousands of refugees and homeless who were victims of the devastating earthquake that wrecked havoc in the country on Tues., Jan. 12, and who have received relief from Dominican authorities in the framework of humanitarian aid to the neighboring country.

Calderon pointed out that the advantages of the mobile kitchens are that they can be transferred to affected zones and produce some 10 thousand rations per day.

The announcement was made this Tuesday by the general administer of the Economic Cafeterias of the State, Nicolás Calderón, who said the mobile kitchens are being built in Tampa, Florida, and will have double the capacity of those that belong to the Dominican government. Ten of the latter have been in Haitian territory since the day following the earthquake.

Both the Haitian President Rene Preval and the United Nation’s Worldwide Food Program have shown interest in this program of mobile kitchens for food aid. Therefore, President Leonel Fernandez decided to donate two of them to the Caribbean nation.

Calderon pointed out that the advantages of the mobile kitchens are that they can be transferred to affected zones and produce some 10 thousand rations per day.

The functionary said the food aid distributed by the government through the Economic Cafeterias of the State gives over 75 million rations per day, with an investment of 3.2 million pesos daily. He said that the Dominican government has given food aid for three weeks to the Haitian people and that the personnel and their logistic back up in the neighbor country will continue for another two to three weeks.

Calderon assured that no domestic social programs undertaken by the agency have been affected by the unexpected operations in Haiti, because the food program has 28 mobile kitchens that give aid to low-income communities.

He pointed out that no problems or incidents have occurred during the distribution of food, which is done in coordination with the United Nations Stabilizing Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), who do the planning.

“Thanks to the aid of the Dominican government in Haiti, there have been no riots. The situation has calmed down and the aid has lessened the initial pressure of the population over the lack of assistance in the first hours following the disastrous earthquake that affected the Haitian capital and other cities,” said Calderon.

Calderon said the base of operations of the Economic Cafeterias of the Dominican State is in the Metropolitan Industrial Park (SONAPI in Spanish).