IRELAND HAS ANNOUNCED a pledge of a further €500,000 along with an emergency shipment of humanitarian supplies to the devastated Caribbean country of Haiti, reports the Irish Times.

Haiti is still struggling with the basic day-to-day running of the country after being struck by a catastrophic earthquake in January, which killed 230,000 people and caused another one million to become homeless. In the past number of weeks, Haiti has also been hit by a hurricane and a cholera outbreak that claimed at least 800 lives.

Forty metric tonnes of tents and tarpaulins have been ordered from stocks in Panama, the Minister for Overseas Development Peter Power has confirmed.

Aid workers from Concern and the International Organisation for Migration will travel to Haiti to distribute the much-needed supplies.

Meanwhile, Plan Ireland and Goal will distribute funds raised by Irish Aid to provide for clean water, sanitation services and hygiene equipment for those left in abject poverty since the quake struck.

Ireland has so far donated €7.6m to Haiti since January.