Haiti officials warned residents to watch out for buildings cracked from earthquakes
Les Cayes, Haiti:
The death toll from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti has risen to 1,941, the Caribbean country’s civil defense ministry said Tuesday, as a tropical storm sent torrential rain to survivors already battling a catastrophe.
More than 9,900 people were injured when the earthquake hit the southwestern part of the Caribbean nation on Saturday, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the capital Port-au-Prince, according to the updated toll.
With more than 60,000 homes destroyed and 76,000 damaged, the United Nations children’s organization UNICEF said more than half a million children were affected by the disaster.
In the coastal town of Les Cayes, residents began building makeshift shelters on a football field, despite the gusty winds and pouring rain as Tropical Storm Grace swept across the country.
There were so few buildings left that people had to relieve themselves on the city streets, according to Magalie Cadet, 41, who had only a shower cap to protect against the rain.
Aftershocks continued to shake the ground in Les Cayes for days after the quake, further terrifying residents.
“Last night I took shelter near a church, but when I heard the ground shaking again, I ran back here,” Cadet said.
Better ‘wet than dead’
The US National Hurricane Center warned of flash flooding and urban flooding and possible mudslides as Grace ravaged the impoverished country with up to 38 inches of rain.
Haiti officials warned residents to beware of buildings cracked from the earthquake, as they could collapse under the weight of water.
Despite the rain, the drinking water was almost finished. In the coastal municipality of Pestel, more than 1,800 reservoirs containing drinking water have burst or destroyed as a result of the earthquake.
In 2010, in the wake of a horrific earthquake that killed 200,000 people, Haiti saw a deadly cholera outbreak caused by wastewater from a UN base.
Natacha Lormira tried to build herself a shelter using a torn piece of tarpaulin attached to a thin piece of wood.
“I don’t want to hide under a gallery or under a corner of a wall because we’ve seen people die under wall panels,” Lormira said. “We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s easier to be wet than dead.”
Government ‘doesn’t help’
Wet from the constant rain, 28-year-old Vladimir Gilles tried to dig several pieces of bamboo deep into the ground to build a canopy for his wife and child.
Gilles said he needs some tarp to keep his family dry, but the government is “not helping”.
“My house is destroyed, I have nowhere to sleep,” he said.
The government has declared a state of emergency for a month in the four provinces affected by the earthquake.
Rescuers have pulled 34 people alive from the rubble in the past 48 hours, authorities said.
But all official rescue efforts in one of the world’s poorest countries are hampered by the political chaos that rages there a month after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
