DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Shelters are packed in the Dominican Republic as aid begins to arrive for storm victims

Record ID: 741538

  • Title: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Shelters are packed in the Dominican Republic as aid begins to arrive for storm victims
  • Date: 3rd November 2007
  • Summary: (W5) SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (NOVEMBER 1, 2007) (REUTERS) RED CROSS PLANE CARRYING FIRST INTERNATIONAL AID ARRIVING AT LAS AMERICAS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FROM PANAMA
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Dominican Republic
  • Country: Dominican Republic
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVA4JKGTW8NLZKA4O2FKUZ2JWAOT
  • Story Text: Victims of Tropical Storm Noel filled shelters in the Dominican Republic as international aid begins arriving. Over 100 may have died in the storm and subsequent flooding.
    Thousands crowded into shelters and the first international aid arrived in the Dominican Republic on Friday (November 2) where officials said the death toll from Tropical Storm Noel could exceed 100.
    In the Los Guandules neighbourhood in the capital city of Santo Domingo, families crowded onto mattresses strewn on the floor.
    They are just some of the 65,000 people who were driven from their homes because of the storm.
    Flood victim Otilio D'Oleo said he expected to return to what was left of his house.
    "We got out what we could and the river took what was left,"
    he said. "Clean the house when it dries out and get in it but it's full of water and we don't know when we'll be able to get in-- tomorrow or the day after."
    After days of torrential rain, the official body count reached 79 in the Dominican Republic, with 43 people listed as missing.
    But Public Health Secretary Bautista Rojas Gomez said the authorities are also monitoring the effects on survivors.
    "Since the situation has a tendency to stabilize and, from here on, gastrointestinal, respiratory and conjunctivitis problems begin to come up, that's what we're watching," he said.
    The first international aid arrived on Friday. The plane included mosquito nets, personal hygiene items, potable water and kitchen items.
    President Leonel Fernandez, who spent Thursday and Friday flying to survivors huddled in shelters, ordered health officials to carry out fumigation plans to prevent a surge in mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever.
    Fernandez promised the homeless the government would help repair their homes or build new ones and would distribute food and medicine.
    "What we're going to do is help you with food, with potable water and the housing that you need," he told flood victims at a shelter in Barahona, 200 kilometres south of Santo Domingo.
    Civil defense brigades continued to fanned out in boats to reach flooded or cut-off villages like the area of Bajo Yuna, 170 miles (280 km) northeast of Santo Domingo.
    If the 100-plus death toll feared by the Dominican authorities were to be confirmed, Noel would represent the worst natural disaster in the country since spring floods in May 2004 killed around 250. The same floods killed 2,000 people in neighbouring Haiti.
    The government set up an emergency fund of just over $31 million for urgent repairs to infrastructure such as downed bridges, and said the Inter-American Development Bank had approved a $200 million loan and a $20 million line of credit.
    Noel turned into a hurricane on Thursday night as it raced away from the Bahamas toward Nova Scotia in Canada. It was expected to turn into a non-tropical but still powerful "Nor'easter" by the time it brushed Cape Cod on Saturday.
    In Haiti, the storm killed 43 people, while 15 were missing. Six thousand homes were damaged or destroyed and 14,000 people were living in shelters. One person died in Jamaica as did another in the Bahamas.
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