KINGSTON, Jamaica — Haiti, which was recently impacted by a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake, will soon receive help to recover through the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC).

This is according to Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism and co-founder of the GTRCMC who revealed today that through the organisation, he has established a high-level tourism resilience, recovery and sustainability taskforce that will respond to the urgent and immediate needs of the Haitian people affected by the recent seismic disruption.

“Another critical objective of the taskforce will be the assessment of the damage of the seismic disruption on the immediate to long term impact on the Haitian tourism product and tourism-dependent stakeholders,” Bartlett said.

On Sunday August 15, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Haiti. The death toll so far has been estimated at 1,419 while over 6000 people have been injured. More than 7,000 homes have been destroyed and nearly 5,000 damaged, leaving approximately 30,000 families homeless.

Read: Deadly 7.2-magnitude quake strikes Haiti

Read: Death toll from Haiti earthquake rises to nearly 2,000

The high-level taskforce will seek to determine the immediate needs of Haitian tourism stakeholders affected by the recent seismic disruption impact on the Haitian tourism product and tourism dependent stakeholders. Another objective of the taskforce will be to engage key global tourism — business, government and civil society — to identify solutions necessary to facilitate Haiti’s immediate-to-long term tourism product.

“The swiftness with which this earthquake has devastated sections of Haiti has made it imperative that we act quickly to help restore some level of normalcy. We also recognise that for a stronger recovery, we need to identify what solutions will be necessary to mitigate the negative impact of seismic disruptions on the Haitian tourism product and tourism-dependent stakeholders,” Bartlett said.

Along with Bartlett, the high-level taskforce will include Senator Lisa Cummings, Minister of Tourism for Barbados and Chair of the Caribbean Tourism Organization; HE Ahmed Khateeb, Minister of Tourism for Saudi Arabia; Dionisio James D’Aguila, Minister of Tourism and Aviation for the Bahamas; Executive Director of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, Professor Lloyd Waller; Frank Elias Rainieri, Chairman and founder of Grupo Puntacana; Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue; Adam Stewart, Chairman and CEO, Sandals Resorts International, ATL Group and President of the Sandals Foundation; Wilfred Baghaloo, Managing Director for Deals, Southern Cluster for PwC Tax and Advisory Services Limited; and Keith Duncan, Group Chief Executive Officer, JMMB Group.

“The organisations that will be collaborating on this taskforce will prove to be extremely beneficial to the recovery efforts for Haiti,” added Executive Director of the GTRCMC, Professor Waller.