HAITI: HAITI CONTINUES TO BURY HUNDREDS OF FLOOD VICTIMS IN MASS GRAVES WHILE TROOPS GUARD RELIEF OPERATIONS IN FLOOD-HIT HAITI

Record ID: 646929

  • Title: HAITI: HAITI CONTINUES TO BURY HUNDREDS OF FLOOD VICTIMS IN MASS GRAVES WHILE TROOPS GUARD RELIEF OPERATIONS IN FLOOD-HIT HAITI
  • Date: 23rd September 2004
  • Summary: (W8) GONAIVES, HAITI (SEPTEMBER 23, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV TRUCK DEPOSITING BODIES INTO MASS GRAVE 0.13 2. SV PHOTOGRAPHERS AT SITE 0.16 3. SV BODY IN GRAVE 0.21 4. SV COVERED BODY ON STRETCHER 0.29 5. MCU MAN SMOKING 0.33 6. SV BODY BEING TIPPED INTO GRAVE 0.37 7. SV SHROUDED BODY AND ANIMAL CARCASS AT BOTTOM OF GRAVE 0.43 8. MCU MAN GESTURING 0.45 9. SV MAN COVERING FACE WITH HIS T-SHIRT 0.51 10. SLV BODY IN GRAVE 0.56 11. SV PEOPLE POINTING 1.00 12. SLV BODY CAUGHT IN TREE 1.07 13. CU PART OF DEAD BODY IN BUSHES 1.14 (W1)PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI (SEPTEMBER 23, 2004) (REUTERS) 14. SLV ARGENTINE AIRFORCE PLANE CARRYING HUMANITARIAN AID FOR FLOOD VICTIMS LANDING 1.21 15. CU SIGN READING "WHITE HELMET ORGANISATION" 1.24 16. LV/SLV TROOPS UNLOADING AID FROM PLANE (2 SHOTS) 1.35 17. SLV OF ARGENTINE TROOPS CHECKING CARGO 1.40 18. MCU (Spanish) ARGENTINE MILITARY MEDIC, CARLOS MAZOOCHI, SAYING: "It is a group of organisations from different countries that are working together to relieve our brothers that are suffering in Gonaives." 1.50 19. SV/LAS TROOPS CHECKING CARGO (2 SHOTS) 1.59 20. SLV/MCU OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM DONOR COUNTRIES MEETING WITH HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER GERARD LATORTUE (3 SHOTS) 2.13 21. MCU (Spanish) LATORTUE SAYING: "There are about 1,200 dead in Gonaives, 1,500 dead throughout the country. What is the priority? The number one priority is medicines and antibiotics to prevent epidemics from the cadavers we have in the country and then food because there is hardly any in Gonaives." 2.37 22. SLV/SV UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPERS ORGANISING CROWD TO RECEIVE AID (2 SHOTS) 2.45 23. SV OF PEOPLE RECEIVING AID 2.53 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GONAIVES AND PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
  • Country: Haiti
  • Reuters ID: LVAEHGTN1P5QI70EK0AG8WTQOQTZ
  • Story Text: Haiti continues to bury hundreds of flood victims in
    mass graves while troops guard relief operations in flood-hit Haiti.



    Haiti continued to bury hundreds of flood victims
    and rotting animal corpses in mass graves on Thursday
    (September 23, 2004) as the death toll from Tropical Storm Jeanne
    continued to grow.

    The national civil defense agency said 1,150 bodies had
    been recovered by Thursday morning, mainly from Gonaives, a
    city of 200,000 that was buried under a wall of water and a
    thick coat of mud after Tropical Storm Jeanne triggered
    torrential rainfall over the weekend.

    Meanhwhile U.N. peacekeepers beefed up security on
    Thursday in the Haitian city of Gonaives where more than
    1,000 people died in floods, after desperate survivors
    fought each other to get at emergency food supplies.

    The decision to boost security around relief operations
    was made after U.N. troops had to fire into the air on
    Wednesday to prevent looting when the first beans, rice and
    other supplies were handed out to an estimated 20,000 flood
    victims.

    The national civil defense agency said 1,150 bodies had
    been recovered by Thursday morning, mainly from Gonaives, a
    city of 200,000 that was buried under a wall of water and a
    thick coat of mud after Tropical Storm Jeanne triggered
    torrential rainfall over the weekend.

    Another 1,200 people were still missing and the United
    Nations warned the body count could rise dramatically in
    the coming days because two areas of Gonaives remained
    under water and inaccessible.

    The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti frequently
    suffers devastating floods because most of its trees have
    been chopped down to make charcoal for cooking. Floods on
    the Dominican-Haitian border killed about 2,000 people in
    May.

    Gonaives was the city where Haiti declared independence
    from France 200 years ago after a slave revolt, and it was
    also where an armed revolt began against Aristide this
    year, forcing him to flee on Feb. 29.

    Representatives from donor countries met in the
    capital, Port-au-Prince, on Thursday and pledged to quickly
    pump $84 million into Haiti. Some of that was new money
    earmarked for disaster relief, and some was to be drawn
    from gifts and loans already pledged to help the nation of
    8 million bring an end to chronic political instability and
    poverty.

    "There are about 1,200 dead in Gonaives, 1,500 dead
    throughout the country. What is the priority? The number
    one priority is medicines and antibiotics to prevent
    epidemics from the cadavers we have in the country and then
    food because there is hardly any in Gonaives," said Haitian
    Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

    The biggest chunk was to come from the World Bank,
    which pledged $6 million in the next two weeks and $61
    million in December.

    Jeanne, now a hurricane, also killed 11 people in the
    Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola
    with Haiti, and two in the U.S. Caribbean territory of
    Puerto Rico.

    The hurricane, with winds of 105 mph (165 kph) was 425
    miles (680 km) east of Great Abaco island in the Bahamas.

    It was expected to hit the northern Bahamas on Saturday and
    Florida on Sunday (September 26).


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register