As residents of Haiti continue rebuilding their lives almost 11 months after a massive earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, Penske’s $1 million worth of donated trucks continue to help those hit hardest by the devastating quake.
Earlier this year, Penske Truck Leasing, Penske Corporation and its family of companies donated 40 trucks through the Clinton-Bush Haiti Foundation to assist with relief efforts surrounding the earthquake. Upon arrival these trucks were immediately put to work by the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP).
The Government of Haiti’s National Equipment Centre is using 20 trucks. Based in Port-au-Prince, the WFP/Logistics Cluster is utilizing the other 20 as part of the interagency humanitarian response fleet responsible for transporting relief items around the country.
"These trucks have been instrumental in ensuring a consistent response capacity, in particular for the movement of non-food items, including housing and transitional shelter materials for displaced persons, as well as tools and machinery for economic recovery projects, among others,” said Francis Nixon, logistics cluster officer with the WFP in Haiti. Nixon recently provided an update via e-mail to Penske on how the vehicles are being used in their current mission.
The 7.0 magnitude quake struck Jan. 12, 2010, and its epicenter hit just 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince. The U.S. Geological Survey Office called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti.
Following the quake, the Red Cross dispatched relief teams from Geneva and the WFP. Since that time, millions of Haitians have been helped. However, the Clinton-Bush Haiti Foundation, WFP and Red Cross continue to provide relief and rebuilding efforts and will likely provide assistance for many years due to the devastation, including the recent outbreak of cholera.
By Kandace Wertz
