- Title: Haiti struggles to recover after Hurricane Matthew
- Date: 10th October 2016
- Summary: JEREMIE, HAITI (OCTOBER 9, 2016) (REUTERS) MILITARY HELICOPTER WITH AID ARRIVING SOLDIERS UNLOADING AID SOLDIERS CARRYING AID FROM HELICOPTER NURSE HOLDING SICK CHILD IN CHOLERA HOSPITAL FACE OF SICK MAN CHILD WITH IV LYING ON GROUND WITHOUT PANTS ON IN CHOLERA HOSPITAL PATIENTS IN BEDS IN HOSPITAL NURSE PUTTING IV IN PATIENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) SANDRA HONORE, UN SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE AND HEAD OF THE U.N. STABILIZATION UNIT (MINUSTAH), SAYING: "The United Nations Mission for stabilization in Haiti has a base here in Jeremie. We have a police unit. We have civilian staff and we have some staff from our military contingent, an engineering company that has been working in the department, that has been looking at clearing the road between Les Cayes in South (Sud) Department and Jeremie in Grand'Anse. We are visiting this morning to speak with the staff who were located here during the hurricane. The former police unit is a former police unit for another area and the base was virtually destroyed so we are visiting this morning." DESTROYED HOUSE WITH RUBBLE AND CLOTHING HANGING VARIOUS OS WOMAN WASHING CLOTHES IN BASIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED CHRISTIAN PASTOR, SAYING: "We need roofs, we need food and we need, how can I say that? We need some economists to come and help people." VARIOUS OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN SHELTER VARIOUS AERIALS OF WIDESPREAD HURRICANE DAMAGE
- Embargoed: 25th October 2016 07:00
- Keywords: Haiti Hurricane Matthew hurricane cholera water United Nations aid
- Location: JEREMIE, HAITI
- City: JEREMIE, HAITI
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
- Reuters ID: LVA00153F80N7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
Aid started arriving in the devastated southwest of Haiti as the death toll from Hurricane Matthew rose to 1,000 people.
The powerful hurricane, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, slammed into Haiti on Tuesday (October 4) with 145 mile-per-hour (233 kph) winds and torrential rains that left 1.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
A Reuters tally of numbers from local officials showed that 1,000 people were killed by the storm in Haiti, which has a population of about 10 million and is the poorest country in the Americas.
In hard-hit Jeremie, Kedner Frenel, the most senior central government official in the Grand'Anse Department on Haiti's western peninsula, said 522 people were killed in Grand'Anse alone.
Sandra Honore, the U.N. special representative of MINUSTAH, said the organization was still assessing damage to their offices in the area and were hoping to provide concrete help in clearing a road which has left the southern region of Les Cayes largely cut off.
"The United Nations Mission for Stabilization in Haiti has a base here in Jeremie. We have a police unit. We have civilian staff and we have some staff from our military contingent, an engineering company that has been working in the department, that has been looking at clearing the road between Les Cayes in South (Sud) Department and Jeremie in Grand'Anse. We are visiting this morning to speak with the staff who were located here during the hurricane. The former police unit is a former police unit for another area and the base was virtually destroyed so we are visiting this morning," Honore said.
Authorities said there was great concern about cholera spreading, and that authorities were focused on getting water, food and medication to the thousands of people living in shelters.
Cholera causes severe diarrhoea and can kill within hours if untreated. It is spread through contaminated water and has a short incubation period, which leads to rapid outbreaks.
As aid workers assess damage, this Christian pastor said there was a need to address the immediate needs of basic necessities and rebuilding but there were also longer-term needs, such as creating a sustainable economy in which businesses can grow and prosper in Haiti.
"We need roofs, we need food and we need, how can I say that? We need some economists to come and help people," he said.
Government teams fanned out across the hard-hit southwestern tip of the country over the weekend to repair treatment centres and reach the epicentre of one outbreak.
The devastating hurricane continued on to the United States where it claimed 17 lives and caused 2 million houses and businesses to lose power. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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