International Development Minister Mike Foster said during a visit to Port-au-Prince that the figure for Britain’s contribution to the international relief effort for Haiti included 91 million pounds donated by the British public.
Britain’s government had provided 20 million pounds of direct emergency aid and the rest of the 150 million pounds total had been channelled through multilateral institutions like the World Bank, the European Union and the Inter-American Development Bank, Foster told a news conference.
The UK had set up a post-disaster stabilization unit in the quake-wrecked Haitian capital and its personnel included British prison experts who would advise Haiti on rebuilding its network of jails, several of which were damaged in the quake.
More than 5,000 prisoners escaped, most from the main national penitentiary. Most of them are still on the run.
