Today the Spanish airline Iberia and the NGO formed by its employees, “Mano a Mano” (“Hand to hand”) are shipping 20 tonnes of humanitarian aid to victims of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on Wednesday.

Drinking water, food, medical supplies, and bed sheets make up the shipment carried in flight IB6501 which leaves Madrid at 15:05 h and is to arrive at the capital of the Dominican Republic at 18:55 h local time.

The airline is using one of its largest aircraft, an Airbus A-340/600, to accommodate the cargo. The larger aircraft are to be used on the route as long as they are needed to carry aid and rescue teams.

Mano a Mano volunteers in Santo Domingo will load the aid onto lorries that will take it across the border to Haiti, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. The Red Cross will distribute the aid in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital that was flattened by Wednesday’s earthquake.

Other institutions that cooperated in providing the aid include the government and health department of the Madrid region, the council of the city of Getafe, and some private companies such as the El Corte Inglés department store chain and the Cofares cooperative, a distributor of pharmaceuticals.

Since Wednesday Iberia has been operating larger aircraft on its route to Santo Domingo to accommodate rescue teams and their equipment, and well as volunteers and humanitarian aid.

Iberia flight and ground crews set up Mano a Mano in the early 1990s to use vacant cargo space to bring aid to countries and regions served by the airline. The NGO, with the full backing and collaboration of the airline, has staged special flights to bring aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and other countries affected by hurricanes. Mano a Mano has also taken part in reconstruction projects after natural distasters.