Relief Plane From Heathrow Taking Unicef Haiti Supplies to the Caribbean

LONDON, January 16 - A Boeing 747 passenger aircraft donated by British Airways is
transporting 40 metric-tonnes (MT) of UNICEF humanitarian supplies for use in
Haiti.

The aircraft left London Heathrow Airport Saturday morning and will make
a special trip to Billund Airport (approximately 260 km from Copenhagen) to
be loaded with UNICEF essential emergency supplies, including: tarpaulins,
plastic sheets, 7 large tents (72 sq m), Early Childhood Development kits
(including art materials, books and games), multivitamins, and a range of
health and medical kits such as surgical, obstetric, and inter-agency health,
and diarrhoeal disease kits.

The aircraft has a cargo capacity of 50MT, 40 of which is being used by
UNICEF and the remaining 10 has been offered to Oxfam water and sanitation
supplies.

In Haiti, UNICEF is the cluster lead on water, sanitation, nutrition and
health and Oxfam supplies will be part of the UNICEF-led operation in the
relief effort.

The plane is expected to leave Billund Saturday evening (GMT) and be in
the Dominican Republic by Saturday night (Caribbean time).

The plane will land in Santo Domingo where UNICEF will work with partners
on the ground to identify the safest means for transportation by road or air
to Haiti.

The large coordination efforts will be assisted by two UNICEF Supply
specialists from Copenhagen who will be arriving with the BA flight. One will
remain in Santo Domingo and the other will proceed to Port-au-Prince.

One of their first tasks will be to set up large storage capacity tents
to house incoming supplies.

A WFP plane is scheduled to leave Dubai Saturday carrying 30MT of UNICEF
goods including recreational kits, plastic mats and tents.

A DHL chartered plane is transporting another 45MT of supplies from
UNICEF's Panama hub for Port au Prince on Saturday. These supplies include
water testing kits, inter-agency health kits, Early Childhood Development
kits, School-in-a-Box, Recreation kits, water containers, tents, tarpaulins,
rope, and water purification tablets. These supplies can cover an additional
20,000 families.

UNICEF does not receive any money from the Disaster Emergency Committee
nor from the UN. It relies solely on public donations. An appeal fund has
been launched and members of the public can donate through www.unicef.org.uk
or by telephoning 0800 316 5353.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

UNICEF personnel in Haiti are available for interview.

High resolution photos will become available later Saturday.

About UNICEF

UNICEF is the world's leading organisation working for children and their
rights in more than 190 countries. As champion of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF works to help every child
realise their full potential. Together with our partners, UNICEF delivers
health care, nutrition, education and protection to children in urgent need,
while working with governments to ensure they deliver on their promise to
protect and promote the rights of every child. UNICEF relies entirely on
voluntary donations from individuals, governments, institutions and
corporations, and is not funded by the UN budget. For more information,
please visit www.unicef.org.uk.

For more information, please contact: Terry Ally, Senior Media Officer,
International Programmes and Emergencies, UNICEF UK, Tel: +44(0)20-7375-6014,
24-hour Press Line: +44(0)20-7336-8922

For more information, please contact: Terry Ally, Senior Media Officer, International Programmes and Emergencies, UNICEF UK, Tel: +44(0)20-7375-6014, 24-hour Press Line: +44(0)20-7336-8922