Relief materials from the earthquake arrive in Haiti, and gangs kidnap two doctors | earthquake news

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Relief for victims of a powerful earthquake and tropical storm began flowing more quickly into Haiti on Thursday, but the Caribbean nation’s ingrained poverty, insecurity and lack of basic infrastructure still pose formidable challenges to providing food and urgent medical care to all who need it. He. She.

Special relief supplies and shipments from the US government and others were arriving in the southwestern peninsula where the weekend earthquake struck, killing more than 2,100 people. But the need was intense, exacerbated by downpours from a tropical storm, and people were frustrated with the slow pace.

Adding to the problems, a major hospital in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where wounded people were being sent from the quake zone in the southwestern peninsula, closed Thursday for two days in protest at the kidnapping of two doctors, including two doctors. One of the few orthopedic surgeons in the country.

The kidnappings dealt a major blow to attempts to control the criminal violence that has threatened disaster response efforts in Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency late Wednesday raised the death toll from the earthquake to 2,189 and said 12,268 were injured. An estimated 300 people are still missing, said Serge Cherry, head of civil defense for the Southern Province, which includes Lee Kayes.

A resident of the Berenne camp receives food from the World Food Program (WFP) in Camp-Birenne near Les Cayes, after the August 14 earthquake. [Henry Romero/Reuters]

Official estimates indicate that the 7.2-magnitude earthquake destroyed or destroyed more than 100,000 homes, and displaced about 30,000 families. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches were also demolished or severely damaged.

Major General Hank Taylor told reporters at the Pentagon that the United States has deployed several heavy helicopters and other aircraft to transport relief supplies and personnel to the disaster area and has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Arlington to provide additional transportation and medical capabilities.

On Thursday, one of the US helicopters landed in Les Cay with equipment, medicine and volunteers, including some from the Samaritan’s Purse. Monty Oetker, a biomedical technician for the organization, said volunteers were ready to operate a self-contained hospital unit, capable of handling a variety of orthopedic procedures.

Distributing aid to the thousands made homeless will be even more difficult.

Sherry said officials hope to begin clearing sites where homes have been destroyed to allow residents to build temporary shelters.

“Aid distribution would be easier if people lived at their address, not in a tent,” he said.

Tension over the slow distribution of aid is becoming increasingly evident in the region hard-hit by Saturday’s earthquake. At the small airport in the southwestern town of Les Cayes, people packed a perimeter fence on Wednesday as aid was loaded into trucks and police fired warning shots to disperse a crowd of young men.

Angry crowds also rallied on the city’s collapsed buildings, demanding tarps create temporary shelters after a heavy rain of Grace.

International aid workers said hospitals in the worst-affected areas are often out of order, requiring many to be moved to the capital for treatment. But getting to Port-au-Prince from the southwest is difficult under normal circumstances due to bad roads and gangs along the way.

Even with a supposed truce between gangs in the aftermath of the earthquake, kidnapping remains a threat – confirmed by the detention of the two doctors working at the Bernard Mavis private hospital in Port-au-Prince, where about 50 earthquake victims were treated.

Another problem arose in the quake-ravaged southern counties, where the national police said villagers had put up roadblocks to prevent aid from reaching, arguing that they also needed help.

The earthquake has displaced tens of thousands of people and needs help [Henry Romero/Reuters]

“For those people who block roads in their spare time to prevent it (aid) from getting to people, you have to wait for help to reach you,” National Police spokeswoman Marie-Michel Ferrer said. She said special police units would accompany the aid shipments. Ferrier also said that 22 prisoners escaped from Le Cai prison after the quake.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry said Wednesday that his administration will try not to “repeat history over mismanagement and coordination of aid,” a reference to the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake, when the government and international partners struggled to provide aid to those in need amid a widespread outbreak. Destruction and misery.

Henry said Saturday’s earthquake had left the country “on its knees”.

Meanwhile, the Core Group, an alliance of key international diplomats from the United States and other countries that monitors Haiti, said in a statement that its members are “strongly committed to working alongside national and local authorities to ensure that people and affected areas receive adequate assistance as quickly as possible.” .

While some officials suggested ending the search phase so heavy machinery could clear the rubble, Henry seemed unwilling to move to that phase.

Some of our compatriots are still under the rubble. We have teams of foreigners and Haitians working on it.

He also called for unity.

“We have to put our heads together to rebuild Haiti,” Henry said. “The country is devastated both physically and mentally.”

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