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Relief teams scramble as Caribbean flood toll grows
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-28 09:25
Rescue workers on Thursday rushed food, drinking water and first-aid kits to
a remote Haitian town submerged by floods that killed an estimated 2,150 people
on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
A Haitian woman tries to collect clean water
in the L'Acul region of Leogane, near mud engulfed homes, after severe
flooding in Haiti, May 27, 2004.
[Reuters] |
Across the border in the Dominican
Republic, authorities prepared to spray disinfectant from aircraft over Jimani
to prevent the spread of disease from decomposing bodies.
Overnight floods in the town killed hundreds of men, women and children and
washed some of their bodies into a lake full of crocodiles.
An official on Wednesday reported 1,000 deaths in Mapou, a village southeast
of Haiti's capital, dramatically raising the death toll from flash floods and
mudslides triggered by torrential rains in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The toll in Haiti stood at about 1,800, while 350 bodies had been recovered
in the Dominican Republic, mostly in Jimani.
Foreign troops sent to Haiti by the United Nations after a rebellion in
February turned to relief efforts, providing helicopter flights to aid agencies
trying to reach survivors isolated when roads were washed out across
southeastern Haiti.
"Mapou is in the middle of a valley and the village is practically under
water," said Lt. Col. David Lapan, spokesman for the multinational force. "It is
like a lake when you look at it from the air."
Heavy rains last weekend sent rivers of mud and debris through villages,
sweeping away shanties and burying residents on both sides of the
Haiti-Dominican Republic border.
Haiti confronted its worst natural disaster in years less than three months
after a rebellion killed more than 200 people and helped oust President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Helicopters provided by the 3,500-member U.S.-led peacekeeping force carried
loads of beans, rice, water-purification tablets, shovels and other emergency
supplies to Mapou, about 25 miles southeast of the capital, and to Fond
Verettes, a border town where at least 158 died.
Thunderstorms grounded the flights late Thursday afternoon and brought more
rainfall, adding to the misery.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and four out of five of its 8
million people live in poverty. The barren land is vulnerable to floods and
mudslides because people have virtually stripped it of trees to make charcoal
for cooking.
Even in the best of conditions, remote Mapou can take three or four hours to
reach from Jacmel, the nearest city on the south coast, said Sheyla Biamby, a
spokeswoman for Catholic Relief Services in Haiti.
"There is no road access," she said. "It is very alarming, not many people
can reach it to bring food and water."
The parish priest in the nearby village of Bodari walked for hours to find a
working telephone, finally getting a call through to the Catholic Church radio
station in Jacmel to report he had counted 350 bodies in his village.
"There are a lot of corpses that are floating on the water that nobody can
reach. The population has no water, no food, and all the houses have gone," the
priest, the Rev. Salomond Jerome, told Radio Efata.
Floodwaters polluted the springs that provided drinking water, leaving
residents thirsty and desperate.
"We dig the earth when we see water, we wait until it clears and we drink it.
My daughter got sick, she has fever. We did not even have medicine to give her
but we still have to drink the water. We have no other choice," said 40-year-old
Bijo Cadet.
International aid groups pleaded urgently for help from around the world.
"The situation in Mapou is very, very dangerous and much worse than we
expected it to be," said Roromme Chantal, information officer for the United
Nations Development Program.
Dominican Republic President Hipolito Mejia, who declared Thursday a national
day of mourning, flew to Jimani and also appealed for international aid.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sent a planeload of food and relief supplies.
The Red Cross reported 350 dead in Jimani. Authorities said about 300 others
were missing and 620 homes severely damaged.
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