GENEVA (BNO NEWS) — The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies released the following statement on Wednesday in response to Tuesday’s devastating earthquake that struck Haiti’s capital.

“An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck Haiti on Tuesday. It hit the capital Port-au-Prince and other areas of the country. The earthquake was also felt in other countries in the region. The most affected area is Haiti’s West Province with a population of 2.2 million.

Red Cross volunteers in Haiti are currently assisting the injured and supporting hospitals whose do not have enough capacity to deal with this emergency.

The most urgent needs at this time are search and rescue, field hospitals, emergency health, water purification, emergency shelter, logistics and telecommunications.

The Red Cross Red Crescent has pre-positioned relief supplies for 3,000 families in Haiti. In Port-au-Prince there are enough pre-positioned supplies for 500 families. These emergency supplies consist of kitchen kits, personal hygiene kits, blankets and containers for storing drinking water.

A group of experts in disaster response, health in emergency and logistics will arrive in Haiti later today to support the Haitian Red Cross in the relief efforts and to begin to coordinate international assistance from members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as well as other organizations. In addition, a Red Cross team will lead a damage assessment together with the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Union.

Emergency funds have been released. A preliminary emergency appeal for humanitarian aid should be issued later on Wednesday.”