As military escorts provide security for food and water deliveries, looting appears to be subsiding in earthquake-devastated Haiti. According to the United Nations, the overall security situation in Port-au-Prince remains stable, with limited violence occurring in areas which had been considered “high risk” even before the 12 January quake.

Early in the week, markets and stores in the city centre were ransacked by hundreds of people. It is unclear how much of the looting was done by local residents scavenging for supplies, and how much by organised criminal groups. On 17 January police opened fire on a group of looters, killing at least one of them.

The situation has been exacerbated by the presence on the streets of 4,000 criminals who escaped from the city's main penitentiary. About 2,000 Haitian police officers are patrolling Port-au-Prince, down from 4,500 before the quake. The police chief admitted that the officers are not trained to deal with an emergency situation like this one.

Rubem Fernandes, Director of Viva Rio, is now at Viva Rio’s office in the Bel Air neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince. He reports that members of the community are working together to keep the neighbourhood at peace and that Viva Rio staff have not felt threatened in any way. He said, "Although it is true that police have been shooting randomly to disperse the looters, the overall situation is less dangerous than what has been presented by the international media."

The United Nations agreed on 18 January to temporarily add 3,500 UN troops and police to the 9,000-member peacekeeping mission in Haiti. The UN vote came as a further 4,000 US soldiers were deployed to Haiti, bringing the numbers of US military personnel who have been deployed for the disaster to 16,000.

We can report that IANSA members and colleagues from OFAT, Viva Rio and Oxfam in Haiti are well; also the international staff of the UNDP small arms control team. However, we are saddened to know that several of them have lost at least one family member. We are still trying to contact other colleagues from whom we have not yet heard.