Death toll rises to 23 as heavy rain lashes Haiti
Acqueline Charles
Miami Herald
Jun 9, 2011
In a deadly start to the Atlantic hurricane season, at least 23 people are dead in earthquake-ravaged Haiti after pelting rain carved paths of destruction across much of this still-broken capital late Monday and Tuesday. The rains triggered flashfloods and mudslides, causing roofs to collapse and debris to be dumped on roads that became rivers of mud. The storm was the worst yet after 10 consecutive days of steady showers.
The deaths and destruction came just a week into the official start of hurricane season, underscoring how vulnerable Haiti remains both from stormy weather and a deadly cholera outbreak that has so far left more than 5,300 dead and thousands hospitalized in recent weeks.
“The great vulnerability of both Port-au-Prince and the country as a whole is clearly evident in the aftermath of this most recent storm,’’ said Alcé Jean-Baptiste, Haiti emergency and human security coordinator for ActionAid, an anti-poverty agency working in several camps for earthquake victims.
In Port-au-Prince, several dozen people had to be evacuated by U.N. peacekeepers after their squalid tent encampment became flooded. And in the town of Gressier, south of the capital and near the city of Leogane, residents were forced to take refuge on rooftops after flood waters engulfed the community, according to civil protection authorities.
After the rains subsided Tuesday, Haitian and foreign disaster officials drove around the capital and nearby southern cities to assess damages and provide hygiene kits in hopes of preventing a further spike in cholera, a waterborne-disease.
ActionAid called for better coordination between the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Haitian government and nongovernmental organizations to prevent further disaster this hurricane season. The new devastation, ActionAid said, highlights the need for newly elected President Michel Martelly to immediately implement a long-term housing strategy for Haitians, hundreds of thousands of whom remain under flimsy tents and tarps nearly 17 months after a catastrophic earthquake.
“Disaster mitigation must be prioritized not only in Port-au-Prince, but in vulnerable communities throughout the country that are at risk of severe flooding,’’ Elise Young, an analyst with ActionAid, told The Miami Herald.
Even before last year’s 7.0 earthquake, Haiti was vulnerable to rain because of its barren mountain sides, neglected infrastructure and trash-clogged canals. Four back-to-back storms in 2008 left dozens of children in the town of Cabaret dead after two swollen rivers overran their banks, and the city of Gonaives became buried underneath millions of cubic meters of mud. Four years earlier, more than 3,000 Haitians died in Gonaives when Tropical Storm Jeanne flooded the city.
Tuesday, the water was reported to be four-feet high in parts of the capital, and residents struggled to salvage their meager belongings.
Disaster officials warned Haitians to remain vigilant, saying that already swollen rivers and saturated soil continue to present risks. More wet weather was expected Wednesday in some parts of the country and in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, which also have had severe flooding.
For weeks, the international community has been working with Haitian government officials to prepare contingency plans ahead of the hurricane season. The assumption has been that 300,000 Haitians could be affected, and about half that number might need to be relocated.
Two new emergency operations centers, including one provided by the Doral-based U.S. Southern Command, recently opened in the capital with warehouses stocked with blankets and other supplies. U.N. humanitarian agencies also have pre-positioned rations of food and trauma and medical kits as well as hygiene supplies to prevent cholera throughout the country.
At the same time, the International Organization for Migration is working with Haitian authorities to assess buildings for use as possible shelters during the hurricane season. There are about two dozen projects under way in various parts of the country to prepare for the threat of hurricanes. They include shelter efforts as well as shoring up barren mountains in places such as Gonaives.
But even as emergency officials claim that Haiti is better prepared this year than last when a deadly cholera outbreak left the humanitarian agencies scrambling as a hurricane approached, concerns linger about Haiti’s ability to weather this hurricane season. Meteorologists predict Haiti could face as many as 18 tropical storms, with three to six strengthening into hurricanes.
In addition to the 680,000 people that the IOM says are still in tents, countless others live in unsafe homes.
“The risk Haiti faces is still high,’’ said Bradley Mellicker, of the International Organization for Migration.
A major concern is the more than 800,000 quake victims who have moved out of the camps, he said. A small number have relocated to new temporary shelters, but many more like Linoise Joseph, 54, of Carrefour, are living in homes that were damaged in the quake and have yet to be repaired.
“I am not at ease,’’ said Joseph, who lives across from a main highway that is known to flood during heavy downpours. “The house isn’t safe, but the tent was unbearable.’’
Mellicker said that reality makes “this year much more complex because of the migration patterns to unrepaired homes that are either red or yellow.’’ A home designated as red is one that should be demolished and the yellow label means in need of repair.
A controversial USAID-commissioned report said that 64 percent of red homes have been reoccupied in the Greater Port-au-Prince area.
“The situation was much simpler last year,’’ Mellicker said.
Haiti’s disaster coordinator Marie-Alta Jean Baptiste agrees. She said while evacuation efforts last hurricane season focused on particular camps, this year they will have to include whole neighborhoods.