Homeless Haitians, post-earthquake, have set up tents on a golf course (photo: ©2010 Marco Dormino/UN)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva Tuesday 9 February made an urgent plea for another kind of aid for Haiti: weather services. The organization points out that “the rainy season with flood risk is due in early April and the hurricane season begins in early June. In order to prevent potential disasters related to natural hazards, which the country is prone to, the capacity of Haiti to produce and disseminate weather information and warnings needs to be developed without delay.”

More than 90 percent of the disasters in Haiti “are linked to frequently occurring meteorological, hydrological and climate-related hazards,” says the WMO.

The country’s meteorological services have operated only partially since the 12 January earthquake, so other WMO member countries have been providing weather information.

The Haiti National Meteorological Center (NMC) is operating from an airport tarmac, since their office building is unsafe to work in, and staff are collecting weather data observations manually at the two airports in Haiti. These are used “to refine the results obtained by the meteorological models available on the Internet and from other Meteorological Services through the WMO coordinated network.”

The United States, Canada and the Dominican Republic are among countries providing reports and forecasts for aviation safety and humanitarian operations, says the WMO, which emphasizes that weather reports are critical “for risk managers, humanitarian assistance entities and other decision-makers and the public in Haiti during the upcoming rainy and hurricane seasons.”

The WMO is working with governments to raise funds for a new office and new weather data stations, computers, and translators to provide information to humanitarian groups.

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