WASHINGTON - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today announced an additional $1 million in humanitarian assistance for communities in Haiti affected by Hurricane Matthew. This brings total USAID humanitarian assistance for regional hurricane relief efforts to $1.5 million.

This additional $1 million will provide food vouchers, food rations, cash transfers, and meals at evacuation shelters. It will also allow the agency's network of humanitarian partners in Haiti to scale up relief operations. USAID is also providing $500,000 to international partners in Haiti, Jamaica, and the Bahamas to provide logistics support and distribute critical relief supplies, including safe drinking water, hygiene kits, emergency shelter materials, blankets, and household goods.

This new funding comes a day after USAID activated a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in the central Caribbean. The DART, an elite team of disaster experts, has deployed to Haiti, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, where they are coordinating with governments of the affected countries and humanitarian organizations on the ground to bring vital humanitarian assistance and logistics support to communities in need.  

In addition to deploying staff throughout the region, USAID has also pre-positioned relief supplies and is gearing up to airlift additional needed supplies from its warehouse in Miami, Fla. to help those impacted by the storm.

Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti the morning of October 4 as a powerful Category 4 storm, causing widespread flooding and infrastructure damage. Today members of the USAID DART are expected to begin conducting air assessments of hard-hit areas. Additional impacts-such as landslides, mudflows, and storm surges-are expected over the next several days.

The United States remains committed to helping those impacted by the hurricane. USAID will continue to coordinate assistance with local governments and partners as we assess damage from Hurricane Matthew.

For more information about USAID's response to Hurricane Matthew, visit www.usaid.gov/matthew.