Storms Kill Hundreds in Dominican Republic, Haiti

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, May 26, 2004 (ENS) - Heavy rains and flooding during the past 48 hours across the Dominican Republic and Haiti have claimed at least 500 lives in both countries and many more people are missing and feared dead.

The two countries make up the rugged island of Hispaniola, which has been lashed with 10 days of storms that have swept across most of the Caribbean Sea.

At least 350 people were killed in Haiti, while at least another 144 people died in the Dominican Republic, officials said.

A yellow alert has been issued for the entire Dominican Republic, except for Jimani municipality in Independencia Province in the southwestern part of the country near the border with Haiti. There, where 135 people have died, a red alert is in effect.

Jimani has been left without drinking water, electricity and telephone communication. Many houses have been destroyed and access to the town is difficult.

Warnings have been issued to people living close to rivers that might overflow their banks and cause floods and landslides.

Haitian children in an impoverished area are vulnerable to flooding. (Photo courtesy IFRC)

Dominican National Emergency Committee chief Radhames Lora Salcedo said that any bodies that could not be quickly identified would be buried in mass graves for sanitary reasons. He told survivors in Jimani that officials would wash the town with water trucks, to avoid any epidemic from the decomposition of corpses.

"El Caribe" newspaper reports that 95 of the deaths occurred very early Monday morning when the muddy waters of the Silie River that starts in Haiti roared through the town of La Cuarenta, and swept many homes away.

Dominican officials said more than 13,000 people are now homeless after flooding rivers rushing towards the sea destroyed their dwellings. Those people who have had to be evacuated are staying with host families and friends, the National Emergency Commission said.

Some 58 people have died in floods in the Haitian town of Fond Verrettes, on the border with the Dominican Republic, some 70 kilometers from the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The rainfall triggered landslides across Haiti, the power is out across much of the country, and many crops have been lost. Haiti is dependent on international food aid and desperately needed good crops this year.

Both the Dominican Republic Red Cross and the Haiti Red Cross, which is also involved in search and rescue and evacuation efforts, are being supported by disaster management experts from the International Federation’s Pan-American Disaster Response Unit, based in Panama.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan extended his condolences to the families who have lost loved ones in the natural disaster.

Mountainous interior of the island of Hispaniola, where swollen rivers devastated towns this weekend. (Photo courtesy Anders Brownworth)

Following an alert from the Haiti Civil Protection Unit about the floods in Fonds Verettes, the UN Developement Programme approached the Multinational Interim Force (MIF) to conduct a reconnaissance mission in this area. On Monday, two MIF helicopters flew from Port-au-Prince to Fonds Verettes to carry out an initial assessment of needs of the affected population.

MIF will transport 18,000 liters of water, 10 pallets of fruits and 10 pallets of bread to be distributed among the affected Haitian communities.

The United States will provide an additional $100 million in assistance for Haiti, according to a statement issued Monday by U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

The funds are in addition to $55 million in humanitarian aid and $5 million allocated for the Organization of American States Special Mission to Haiti in the 2004 fiscal year, Boucher said.

The new funds will support training for the Haitian National Police, electricity generation, jobs programs, and economic development. The funds will also help cover the Haitian government's budget deficit, among other uses, according to Boucher.

Even though the new funds will greatly assist Haiti, "we also look to our international partners and friends of Haiti to continue to provide the country with both funding and assistance," Boucher said. He added that other countries "have made significant contributions, but more will be needed."