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| Hurricane Matthew: UN says 350,000 Haitians in need of assistance | Hurricane Matthew: UN says 350,000 Haitians in need of assistance |
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| The destruction wrought by Hurricane Matthew has affected 350,000 Haitians and left the country facing its “largest humanitarian event” since the devastating earthquake six years ago, the UN has said. | The destruction wrought by Hurricane Matthew has affected 350,000 Haitians and left the country facing its “largest humanitarian event” since the devastating earthquake six years ago, the UN has said. |
| Ten thousand Haitians have been forced into shelters, while hospitals are under severe strain and water is in short supply, according to Mourad Wahba, the UN secretary general’s deputy special representative for Haiti. | Ten thousand Haitians have been forced into shelters, while hospitals are under severe strain and water is in short supply, according to Mourad Wahba, the UN secretary general’s deputy special representative for Haiti. |
| A situation report from the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), citing information from the Haitian government’s Directorate of Civil Protection, says that 350,000 men, women and children in Haiti are in need of assistance. | A situation report from the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), citing information from the Haitian government’s Directorate of Civil Protection, says that 350,000 men, women and children in Haiti are in need of assistance. |
| Ocha said that flooding had been reported in 11 towns on Haiti’s southern coast, while the International Organisation for Migration issued alerts over the plight of the 55,000 internally displaced people who are still living in temporary shelters in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, following the 2010 quake. | Ocha said that flooding had been reported in 11 towns on Haiti’s southern coast, while the International Organisation for Migration issued alerts over the plight of the 55,000 internally displaced people who are still living in temporary shelters in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, following the 2010 quake. |
| At least 11 deaths had been blamed on the powerful storm as it made its weeklong march across the Caribbean, most of them on the island of Hispaniola, which is shared between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. | At least 11 deaths had been blamed on the powerful storm as it made its weeklong march across the Caribbean, most of them on the island of Hispaniola, which is shared between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. |
| Hours after Matthew swept on to the remote area on Tuesday, bringing 145mph winds, government leaders said they had not been able to assess its impact. | |
| With a key bridge washed out, roads impassable and phone communications down, the rural south-western peninsula tip of Haiti remaines isolated. | |
| “What we know is that many, many houses have been damaged. Some lost rooftops and they’ll have to be replaced while others were totally destroyed,” said the country’s interior minister, François Anick Joseph. | “What we know is that many, many houses have been damaged. Some lost rooftops and they’ll have to be replaced while others were totally destroyed,” said the country’s interior minister, François Anick Joseph. |
| Both the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) and its children’s agency, Unicef, have begun mobilising resources to help. WFP has arranged enough food supplies to feed 300,000 people for a month, while Unicef is preparing life-saving aid for 10,000 people in Haiti. | |
| Marc Vincent, Unicef’s representative in Haiti, described the hurricane as “the worst storm Haiti has seen in decades”. | |
| The storm ripped away a bridge in the flooded town of Petit Goave, preventing any road travel to the hard-hit south-west. Local radio reported water shoulder high in parts of the southern port city of Les Cayes. | |
| With access to the hardest-hit areas difficult, there are growing fears that the country’s cholera epidemic could spread still further. The disease, unwittingly introduced to Haiti by UN peacekeepers after the earthquake, has killed 9,000 people and there have been 27,000 suspected cases of cholera already this year, a third of them in children. | With access to the hardest-hit areas difficult, there are growing fears that the country’s cholera epidemic could spread still further. The disease, unwittingly introduced to Haiti by UN peacekeepers after the earthquake, has killed 9,000 people and there have been 27,000 suspected cases of cholera already this year, a third of them in children. |
| Prospery Raymond, country manager for the international charity Christian Aid, said that the departments of Sud and Grand’Anse had been the worst affected, along with parts of the Ouest department. He said the wind and rain had torn roofs from houses, swept away plantations, ripped trees from the earth and drowned livestock. | |
| “The road to Grand’Anse is not open because one of the main bridges has collapsed,” he said. “Communication is not working. We don’t have much information on the number of people who’ve died but the main thing is shelter and housing: a lot of people have lost their roofs or had their houses destroyed. The roof of the big church in Les Cayes, which is one of the symbols of the city, blew away.” | |
| He said that unless water and sanitation supplies were brought to areas where the water was now “sticky with mud”, the risk of cholera would only increase “and there will be another emergency to deal with when it comes to all sorts of water-borne diseases”. | |
| Raymond said the Haitian government and many local NGOS and civil society groups wanted to make sure that they played a central role in the relief effort. One of the enduring criticisms of the international response to the 2010 earthquake is that Haitians were sidelined as foreign groups decided how best to respond and rebuild. | |
| “People are waiting for support from the government and I think the government would like to co-ordinate most of the international help,” said Raymond. He added that Christian Aid and its partners would “push international donors to work more closely with the Haitian government and to provide support directly to it in order to move the response”. | |
| Muddy rivers and tributaries continued to rise as water flowed down hillsides and mountains, threatening further flash floods and mudslides even as Matthew tracked away from the country. | Muddy rivers and tributaries continued to rise as water flowed down hillsides and mountains, threatening further flash floods and mudslides even as Matthew tracked away from the country. |
| Milriste Nelson, a 65-year-old farmer in the town of Leogane, said neighbours fled when the wind tore away the corrugated metal roof on their home. His own small yard was strewn with the fruit he depends on for his livelihood. | Milriste Nelson, a 65-year-old farmer in the town of Leogane, said neighbours fled when the wind tore away the corrugated metal roof on their home. His own small yard was strewn with the fruit he depends on for his livelihood. |
| “All the banana trees, all the mangos, everything is gone,” said Nelson. “This country is going to fall deeper into misery.” | |
| Haitian authorities had tried to evacuate people from the most vulnerable areas before the storm, but many were reluctant to leave their homes for fear of losing their belongings. Some sought shelter only after the worst was already upon them. | Haitian authorities had tried to evacuate people from the most vulnerable areas before the storm, but many were reluctant to leave their homes for fear of losing their belongings. Some sought shelter only after the worst was already upon them. |
| Rainfall totals were predicted to reach 15-25ins in Haiti, with up to 40ins in isolated places. | Rainfall totals were predicted to reach 15-25ins in Haiti, with up to 40ins in isolated places. |
| The hurricane also rolled across the sparsely populated tip of Cuba overnight, destroying dozens of homes in the island easternmost city, Baracoa, and leaving hundreds of others damaged. | |
| There were no immediate reports of deaths or large-scale devastation, though the waves had picked up a large shipping container and dropped it three blocks inland from the shore. | |
| By Wednesday morning, Matthew was passing east of the Bahamian island of Inagua, moving over open water on a forecast path expected to take it very near the Bahamas capital of Nassau and then Florida’s Atlantic coast by Thursday evening. | |
| At 8 am EDT (1200 GMT) Matthew’s eye was about 45 miles (85 kilometres) east-northeast of Cabo Lucrecia, Cuba. The hurricane was heading north at 10 mph (17 kph). Matthew is likely to threaten Florida by late Thursday and move across other areas of the East Coast. | |
| Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, announced plans to evacuate a quarter million people - not counting tourists - from its vulnerable coastline, while Florida began mandatory evacuations in Broward County. | |
| Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, urged other coastal residents potentially in harm’s way to leave as well, adding that people living in mobile and manufactured homes were are being ordered to leave. | |
| “If you’re able to go early, leave now,” Scott said during a morning news conference. | |
| Public schools also closed in Savannah, Georgia. The National Hurricane Centre said winds had slightly decreased overnight as Matthew dropped from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm early Wednesday. But forecasters warned Matthew could re-strengthen slightly and said Matthew would remain a powerful and dangerous storm over coming days. |