Parts of Haiti leveled by Hurricane Matthew try to pick up the pieces

Record ID: 82907

  • Title: Parts of Haiti leveled by Hurricane Matthew try to pick up the pieces
  • Date: 7th October 2016
  • Summary: JEREMIE, HAITI (OCTOBER 6, 2016) (REUTERS) AERIAL OF NEIGHBOURHOODS DESTROYED BY HURRICANE MATTHEW DAMAGED HOMES AND BUILDINGS SEEN FROM LANDING AEROPLANE A PREGNANT WOMAN WALKING DOWN A STREET SURROUNDED BY DAMAGED HOMES AND DOWNED TREES A MAN AND WOMAN WALKING DOWN A MUDDY ROAD WOMAN ENTERING A HOME THAT LOST ITS ROOF WOMEN COOKING IN LARGE POTS MAN CLIMBING A LADDER TO REPAIR HOME (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEMBER OF EL SHADDAI MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL, DONNY SANT-GERMAIN, SAYING: "The storm, it was very very windy and it carried the salt water and it was very salty water, but a lot of rain and the wind continued to intensify. Between 6 and 7:30 it was the worst. Then we thought it was over. And everybody came out and they spent about an hour. Then it started over again and it was the worst part of it. But by God's grace, we had no deaths, but right now, most people lost everything; their clothing, their clothes, their shoes, their home and so they have no shelter and so that's why I came back, to see what could be done." PEOPLE REPAIRING HOME (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISPIN SAINC-JEAN, SAYING: "So anyway, I need help. I need to go back home with my kids because my son has a fever, I don't know why they gave him the fever so, I need some help. I need to go home." A WOMAN AND A SMALL CHILD IN A STREET LITTERED WITH CLOTHING LAID TO DRY A WOMAN HOLDING A GIRL ON A BENCH OUTSIDE A HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF PATIENTS IN HOSPITAL BEDS CLOTHES LAID OUT TO DRY OUTSIDE HOSPITAL WORKERS TAKING A DEAD BODY OUT ON A STRETCHER DEAD BODIES, COVERED IN SHEETS, IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND WORKERS POUR CHEMICALS ON THE BODIES MAN FILLING IN GRAVE WITH DIRT
  • Embargoed: 22nd October 2016 05:05
  • Keywords: Hurricane Matthew Jeremie Haiti
  • Location: JEREMIE, HAITI
  • City: JEREMIE, HAITI
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
  • Reuters ID: LVA00153088CN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
    Hurricane Matthew completely levelled parts of southwest Haiti as it tore through the area earlier this week, killing hundreds of people and leaving countless thousands homeless.
    As Matthew continued to threaten Florida and the southeastern United States, victims in Haiti have started to try to pick up the pieces again and have started in on clean up.
    Some 339 people were killed in Haiti, local officials said, and thousands were displaced after the storm flattened homes, uprooted trees and inundated whole neighbourhoods earlier in the week.
    "The storm, it was very very windy and it carried the salt water and it was very salty water, but a lot of rain and the wind continued to intensify. Between 6 and 7:30 it was the worst. Then we thought it was over. And everybody came out and they spent about an hour. Then it started over again and it was the worst part of it. But by God's grace, we had no deaths, but right now, most people lost everything; their clothing, their clothes, their shoes, their home and so they have no shelter and so that's why I came back, to see what could be done," said Donny Sant-Germain who lives in the area, but said he had gone to Port-au-Prince, mostly by foot or motorbike due to impassable roads, to report the damage before returning to Jeremie in the west.
    Sant-Germain, who said he works with the El Shaddai Ministries International, said an orphanage that housed 133 children was completely destroyed.
    Chrispin Sainc-Jean said he was trying to get his wife and sick son back home to the Washington, D.C. suburb of Fort Washington, Maryland when they got stuck in Jeremie when the storm hit.
    "So anyway, I need help. I need to go back home with my kids because my son has a fever, I don't know why they gave him the fever so, I need some help. I need to go home," Sainc-Jean said.
    With many hospitals without power and short on supplies, Haiti is already struggling to care for some of its sick and those injured in the hurricane.
    An additional four people were killed in the Dominican Republic, which neighbours Haiti.
    Damage and potential casualties in the Bahamas were still unclear as the storm passed near the capital, Nassau, on Thursday and then out over the western end of Grand Bahama Island.
    It was too soon to predict where Matthew might do the most of its damage in the United States, but the NHC's hurricane warning extended up the Atlantic coast from southern Florida through Georgia and into South Carolina. More than 12 million people in the United States were under hurricane watches and warnings, according to the Weather Channel.
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