Deadly Hurricanes Devastate Impoverished Haiti

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is suffering the most from the four hurricanes and tropical storms that have swept through the Caribbean in less than a month.

"The UN is already distributing food and potable water," said Elizabeth Byrs, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Flooding in Gonaives, Haiti (Photo by Matthew Marek courtesy American Red Cross)

In Haiti, where some 800,000 people have been affected by the flooding and lethal mudslides, UN agencies are providing emergency food assistance, water, purification tablets, blankets and other relief supplies.

"The World Food Programme has distributed over 170 tons of food, 60,000 litres in bottle of potable water, 80,000 litres of potable water, hygiene kits and plastic sheeting. But we are very worried because some parts of the city are completely flooded," Byrs said in an interview with UN Radio.

She said a humanitarian crisis is emerging in the city of Camak, where many Haitians have taken refuge as floods inundated almost 85 percent of nearby Gonaïves, Haiti's second largest city.

"We have a logistical nightmare because of the destruction of the roads. The two major roads to Gonaïves are blocked by fallen trees and debris, and a bridge collapsed on the only road which was accessible to light trucks," said Byrs.

"Haitians live a constant cyclone," one Haitian man told workers with the World Food Programme. "The difficulties of daily life here - it's a constant cyclone." The impact of the four storms that have hit Haiti in rapid succession is just tearing people apart, he said.

Over half of Haitians live on less than US$1 a day. Some 4.3 million people, nearly half the population, are undernourished. This series of storms hit just as Haitians were struggling to cope with food and fuel price hikes, which were already forcing people to eat less and some to forgo sending their children to school.

Haitian child eats food provided by the UN. (Photo courtesy WFP)

Up to 600,000 people may need assistance in Haiti, which has been struck badly by three storms in three weeks - Faye, Gustav and Hanna.

The head of the UN mission to Haiti, or MINUSTAH, visited Gonaïves on the weekend, finding that the city's residents were paralyzed for 48 hours because of the scale of the disaster.

Hedi Annabi said, "I came here to express my sympathy, my solidarity, solidarity of MINUSTAH and the UN system towards the people of Gonaïves." Annabi announced that an appeal for international assistance to Haiti has been launched.

Since the beginning of the humanitarian emergency, MINUSTAH has been providing security and logistical support to the Haitian authorities as well as the WFP and the UN Children's Fund.

"It was really, really difficult even for our troops to assist the population due to the level of the water," said MINUSTAH spokesperson Sophie Boutaud de la Combe. Flooding has affected populations in nine out of 10 of Haiti's departments.

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, said Saturday that at least 300,000 Haitian children have been affected by the back-to-back hurricanes. UNICEF has made more than $1 million available to help hurricane victims, and a Flash Appeal from all UN agencies operating in Haiti will be launched in the coming days.

The U.S. Navy has diverted the amphibious ship USS Kearsarge to Haiti to assist with relief efforts in flooded areas. Kearsarge will depart from Santa Marta, Colombia, for Haiti to join other U.S. assistance operations in the vicinity of Port-au-Prince.

Medical facilities aboard Kearsarge include four operating rooms, 13 intensive-care unit beds, 40 medical ward beds, a laboratory, X-ray equipment and a blood bank.

Kearsarge's capabilities include rapid movement of personnel and cargo by helicopter and landing craft, making it able to support humanitarian relief missions on short notice. The total U.S. government contribution to Haitian storm relief stands at $10 million.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes (Photo courtesy UN)

The UN agencies need all the help they can get to deal with the rapid-fire series of storms. "We are faced with a combination, once again, of severe natural disasters in a number of places which is stretching our resources," John Holmes under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs told reporters in New York Friday.

The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the United States have all been badly affected, said Holmes, who also serves as UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an appeal for US$3.4 million to support the humanitarian operation of the Haitian Red Cross, which has been dealing with the impact of Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna.

The funds are urgently needed to allow the Haitian Red Cross to help some 50,000 people over the next six months. Essential food items, first aid materials, vital medicines, clean drinking water and shelter are among the most urgent needs at this time, according to IFRC specialists on the ground.

A Red Cross Red Crescent Field Assessment Coordination Team including members from the partner societies from Germany, Finland, Norway, United States and Switzerland has been deployed to Haiti. But ongoing heavy rains block access to the affected areas making delivery of essential aid extremely hazardous and reducing the possibilities to conduct humanitarian assessments, the IFRC said.

The UN also has offered humanitarian assistance to Cuba, where the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is preparing an emergency cash grant as well as an application to the Central Emergency Response Fund.

Cuba now is being battered by Hurricane Ike, but hundreds of people were evacuated as a result of Hurricane Gustav, which caused significant damage to over 140,000 homes, schools and hospitals at the end of August.

Byrs said OCHA is waiting on the assessment of Ike's impact on Cuba. "You can imagine the desolation and the damage to this country. There is no electricity. There is no communication."

The U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, has approved $100,000 in emergency relief funds to help meet the immediate needs of those in Cuba affected by Hurricane Gustav.

Elsewhere, Holmes said, the damage is significant but a bit less severe. Jamaica had a lot of flooding following Hurricane Gustav, and the UN has already allocated a cash grant of $30,000 and is in touch with the government about further needs.

There has been some damage in the Dominican Republic, but the biggest concern there is the potential for landslides and flooding if another storm hits the already saturated areas.

"We are monitoring the situation there but the government does not seem to need any special support," said Holmes. He said neither the Cayman Islands nor the Bahamas has requested special assistance.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.