Rough terrain vehicles, tents and other equipment have been dispatched from Cotswold Airport to support the aid effort in disaster-hit Haiti.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has storage facilities at the airport and some 16 vehicles have been loaded onto lorries and ferried across to Belgium and France, ready to be airlifted out to Haiti.

An estimated 200,000 people died in last week’s earthquake in the country and another 1.5 million were made homeless.

Haiti was also rocked by a powerful  aftershock earlier today (Jan 20).

DFID and many other organisations around the world have been sending supplies, personnel and vehicles to help with the aid effort.

And the UK Aid section of DFID has dispatched a mixture of 4x4 Nissan Patrols, Mitsubishi Counters, Toyota Landcruisers, a forklift and tents and other equipment from its Cotswold Airport facility.

A steady convoy of lorries has been leaving the airport overnight bound for the coastal ferry ports.

DFID procurement officer Rob Kissick said: “The vehicles will be used to get out into difficult-to-reach areas and enable people to make assessments of exactly what is needed and where.

“They will also be used to assist the United Nations carry out its assessments.”

More vehicles are expected to leave Cotswold Airport in the next few days.