Matthew ‘Like A Monster,’ Leaves Haiti In Humanitarian Crisis
Haiti was struggling under the weight of a slowly rebuilding
infrastructure, struggling economy, and loss of entire towns from the
earthquake that left more than 200,000 people dead, even before
Hurricane Matthew barreled into it, with sustained winds of 145 miles
per hour. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, according to The Guardian,
and that fact alone leaves the people of Haiti particularly vulnerable
to crisis, particularly when it is the massive scale of a natural
disaster.
A 10-year-old girl describes the fear and destruction that she and
her family suffered when the hurricane slammed into Haiti at 6 a.m. on
Tuesday.
“It happened so quickly and suddenly. I heard my neighbor
screaming: ‘Water! Water everywhere!’ It had completely surrounded us.
The water was like a monster, hitting everything violently.”
[Image by Emmitt Hawks/U.S. Navy/Getty Images]
The girl and her brothers and sisters ran to higher ground and
escaped with their lives, but lost everything they owned. Their home was
completely washed away. Sadly, this is a common story of the Hurricane
Matthew experience in Haiti, where help is arriving too little and too
late in some cases. Because a major bridge was taken out that led to
Port au Prince, many people cannot get the help they need. As of this
afternoon, The Guardian reported that at least 600 people were
feared dead among the rubble and ruin. True numbers are hard to come by,
because so many people were displaced and missing.
[Image by Emmitt Hawks/U.S. Navy/Getty Images]
The Red Cross has estimated that more than a million Haitians were affected, either by loss of their homes or loss of life. MSN says that over 800 deaths have been confirmed
already, and that number is expected to rise because clinics have
already seen death by cholera, which was a fear of humanitarian aid
workers. Cholera is a possible consequence when food and water sources
mix with raw sewage and are consumed. In hurricane and earthquake
situations, that is always a threat to survivors, especially those that
have no access to bottled water. Pan American Health Organization said
that cholera is likely to take many more lives than the actual storm
did, as was the case with the hurricane.
“Due to massive flooding and its impact on water and
sanitation infrastructure, cholera cases are expected to surge after
Hurricane Matthew and through the normal rainy season until the start of
2017.”
Jean-Pierre Jean-Donald, 27 years old, had been married for a year
when the hurricane winds hit, and a large tree fell on his house. He
describes the devastation that followed.
“A tree fell on the house and flattened it, the entire
house fell on us. I couldn’t get out. People came to lift the rubble,
and then we saw my wife who had died in the same spot.”
Cell towers are down, there is no electricity, and food is scarce in
many communities, multiple agencies are reporting. Townspeople are
helping each other, offering what little they have to each other.
Bellony Amazan said she had no food to give people, but her house had
not been destroyed.
“My house wasn’t destroyed, so I am receiving people, like it’s a temporary shelter, but I have no food to offer.”
Many people were in dire situations with the roadways washed away and
covered by the sea; there is no way for significant relief efforts to
reach them yet, according to MSN. BBC reports the same, saying that numbers of dead and dying are changing all the time, and that things may get much worse before aid arrives. World Food Programme’s Haiti director, Mr. Veloso, said it was “an ever changing situation.”
“I think that for the next four or five
days, maybe only in five days, we will have a more clear picture of the
impact and the death toll.”
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