Heavy rain hit by Tropical Storm Grace brings misery to Haiti earthquake survivors | global development

[ad_1]

Tropical Storm Grace hit southern Haiti with torrential rain, adding to misery for survivors of a powerful earthquake as flooding and landslides further complicated relief efforts.

Electricity and communications were still cut off Tuesday morning in parts of southern Haiti after inches of torrential rain and 35-mph winds hit the besieged area, just two days after it was hit by the devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

Rainwater turned the streets of Haiti’s earthquake-stricken Tiburon Peninsula into rivers within a few minutes of Tropical Storm Grace making landfall on the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. Rain fell at a rate of 50 mm (2 inches) per hour over most of the region.

As the rains began on Monday night, the confirmed death toll from Saturday’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake rose to 1,419, with more than 6,000 injured and 30,000 homeless. Rescue workers continue to search the rubble for survivors.

Hospitals, already full, treat patients in yards and corridors. Medical supplies, including personal protective equipment for staff and pain relievers and splints for patients remain scarce.

“The hospital is in a bad place with water filling the yard,” said Strines Ippolite, a 26-year-old intern at Immaculate Conception Hospital in Les Cayes, who has not been able to sleep much since his house was partially destroyed because his house was partially destroyed. earthquake. “People are crying out for help, tents, shelter and a message of hope.”

Marjorie Modeste, a psychologist who lives in Les Cayes and helps coordinate aid delivery through the family support organization she runs, expressed similar desperation.

“This is what the country needs: tents, food, medicine, hygiene kits, water, clothes, rescue equipment and wheelchairs,” said Modesti, who flooded his home on Monday night. People are fleeing their homes. We need rescue.”

A woman looks at her at a makeshift camp in Les Cayes, Haiti. Photograph: Ricardo Arduingo/Reuters

Residents are afraid to enter or sleep in their homes, fear that they will collapse in the constant aftershocks or flood due to storm waters, and instead choose to sleep in tents or under tarps.

The widespread deforestation of charcoal production has made the region more prone to disasters.

“During the earthquake, water flowed out of the soil and soaked it, making it unable to absorb rainwater,” said Paul Tolot, dean of the American University in the Caribbean, who has been visiting hospitals and other affected areas in southern Haiti. Since the weekend. “Conditions are now ripe for more problems with many of the structures badly damaged and the potential for severe flooding.”

Fiammita Cappellini, country representative for the NGO AVSI, described horrific scenes in Les Cayes, where it had been raining for 15 hours.

“We have seen 50% of the buildings destroyed in the city, and about 80% destroyed in the surrounding countryside,” Cappellini said. “The internal and external roads are closed, even motorbikes cannot pass. By land, sea and air, we are isolated.”

Two of the poorest parts of the city – La Savigny and Die Fort – both of which are located by the sea, were completely inundated by the flood.

Elsewhere in the city, nine people drowned when flood waters swept through a building where storm victims had taken refuge. Another 16 were rescued from the torrent.

“Because of the economic, social and political crisis, and because of the insecurity, there are very few agencies and NGOs working on the field in Haiti at the moment, especially here in the south,” Cappellini said. “So the response rests with those who are already in the field and we are very few.”

Haiti – the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere – has yet to recover from the catastrophic magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince in January 2010, killing more than 200,000 people and turning much of the chaotic capital into rubble. The most recent earthquake was two decimal points larger, although it struck a less densely populated area.

Criminal gangs are also looting the south of the country, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reporting that local officials have had to negotiate with militia leaders to secure the safe passage of relief convoys through Martissant, a volatile neighborhood in the south. The motorway connecting the capital to Les Cayes.

Haiti has been plagued by political violence and urban guerrilla warfare for more than two years, with roadblocks, fuel shortages and power outages becoming a daily reality. The situation only got worse after the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, allegedly carried out by Colombian mercenaries.

.

[ad_2]