Hurricane Tomas Lashes Already Devastated Haiti | Photos | Videos
source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/11/05/tropical.weather/index.html?hpt=C1
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By the CNN Wire Staff
November 5, 2010 5:35 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Rain stops falling in the capital
* Reports tell of destroyed houses, downed trees and flooded rivers
* Aid workers are already struggling to keep up with a cholera outbreak
* Tomas could dump 15 inches of rain over Haiti and cause flash flooding and mud slides
PART ONE…
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Already devastated this year by a killer earthquake and a deadly cholera outbreak, Haiti felt the brute force Friday of Hurricane Tomas, which could dump up to 15 inches of rain and trigger flash floods and mud slides.
The hurricane's punishing rain and wind pounded Haiti as the storm churned offshore.
As of 5 p.m. ET, the storm's center was about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Guantanamo, Cuba, and about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Great Inagua island in the Bahamas, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. Earlier Friday, Tomas had passed within about 140 miles (230 kilometers) of Port-au-Prince.
In the westernmost tip of Haiti, which juts into the Caribbean Sea and is closest to the hurricane, there were reports from the town of Jeremie of destroyed houses, downed trees and flooded rivers, said Marie-Eve Bertrand, communications manager for CARE in the nation.
Also, she said, CARE workers near the coastal city of Leogane reported the area has been inundated with nearly 5 feet of water. Flooding from a nearby river had entered some tent encampments and temporary shelters, Bertrand said.
Tomas was also felt in Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital, but the worst of the storm appeared to have passed there after rain pounded the city all night. By Friday afternoon, the rain had stopped falling.
"The skies have gotten a little cloudier, but people are out and about," said Andrea Koppel, director of international communications with the American Red Cross, who spoke to CNN from Port-au-Prince. "The music is blaring from some of the communities here."
Relief worker Roseann Dennery of Samaritan's Purse was near Cabaret, about 20 miles north of Port-au-Prince, on Friday morning, touring camps that hold some of the 1 million people left homeless by January's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which killed some 250,000 people.
"It's almost eerie," she said. "It's rainy, it's dark and there's really not a lot of movement."
The few people moving from tent to tent were wrapped in sheets and cloth to provide some protection against the constant rain, she said. The ground was soaked and some low-lying areas had minor flooding.
Some people rode out the storm in open-air community centers with supposedly sturdy roofs, she said. But many just huddled in their tents, waiting for the wind and rain to pass. Most didn't have anywhere else to go.
"A lot of them do not have families or relatives," said Dennery.
She said her agency, an international Christian relief organization, has evacuated 30 staff members from Leogane out of fear of mud slides there.
Michael Dockrey, the director in Haiti for the International Medical Corps, also expressed his deep concern Friday.
"Particularly," he told CNN, "with mud slides that can cut off whole communities. We have pre-positioned medical supplies, tents, tarps and staff in areas that we know will be isolated."
Aid workers already were struggling to keep up with the cholera outbreak, which has killed nearly 450 people and hospitalized about 7,000. The bacterial disease causes diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to deadly dehydration within hours.
"It's obviously stretched us all real thin," Dockrey said. "We could certainly use more help ... as can all the other responders."
The hurricane will only make matters worse.
"Even if Tomas only brushes Haiti, it may exacerbate the epidemic, facilitating the spread of the disease into and throughout metropolitan Port-au-Prince, where a third of the population remains homeless and in camps," the International Organization for Migration said.
Some Haitians scurried Friday morning through the rain-pelted streets of Port-au-Prince, looking for somewhere to seek shelter, reported CNN en Espanol's Diulka Perez. They were told to go to churches or the homes of friends and family, but there are significantly fewer churches or homes still standing after January's massive earthquake.
There was also no public transportation available to take people anywhere, Perez reported.
The problem is compounded, she said, because there's no central source of information. Haitians are having to rely on word of mouth to obtain information.
Nor are Haitians eager to leave their tent shelters, because the government cannot guarantee they will have someplace to return to after the storm passes.
CONTINUED…
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ayipis
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you cannot help anybody if there is a standing corrupt government that will be looting every cent that comes in..
(every citizen in every country we try to save by pouring money into the problem gets more dire..AND AT THE SAME time its government gets more corrupt...come on be more "enlightened" than that and see through the thick bullshit)
time to really help haiti and REMOVE corruption..and we start by REMOVING THOSE THAT PROTECTS THE CORRUPT..the united nations
- 1 year ago
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ayipis
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EthicalVegan
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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/1105/Ways-to-help-Haiti-in-wake-...
Ways to help Haiti in wake of hurricane Tomas
After a January earthquake leveled Haiti's capital and left more than 300,000 dead, and a deadly cholera outbreak in October, Haiti now faces fallout from hurricane Tomas.
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A Haitian earthquake survivor reinforces his tent, under the rain, at a provisional camp while Tropical Storm Tomas passes in Port-au-Prince, on Nov. 5.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
By Ariel Zirulnick, Correspondent / November 5, 2010
Although Haiti has not received the direct hit from hurricane Tomas that so many feared, wind and rain from the storm are going to exacerbate the already tenuous situation in the battered island nation.
More than 1.3 million Haitians are living in makeshift shelters in Haiti's tent cities, still homeless after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that leveled their homes and killed 300,000 people in January. Since last month more than 400 people have died in a cholera outbreak. The flooding, mudslides, and destruction that could come with hurricane Tomas have many wondering if the country, the people, and the aid efforts are at their breaking point.
Aid organizations are not yet putting out calls for supplies or volunteers in response to the storm, but many temporarily diverted their earthquake and cholera relief efforts to prepare Haitians for the storm and its aftermath. Many are assisting, with efforts to evacuate the tent cities and other unsafe shelters and move people into sturdier structures.
- 1 year ago
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EthicalVegan
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CONTINUED...
PART TWO...
For the past 10 months, with funding from the World Bank and USAID and oversight from the Haitian Ministry of Public Works, homes across the capital have been inspected by workers from the United Nations, PADF, and MI. MI has also been training locals in masonry and structural engineering so they can repair the homes or rebuild new quake-proof buildings. So far, says Miyamoto, MI has trained 600 engineers and 300 masons – all Haitians, he says – with plans for training several thousand more masons.
"It's taken 10 months to basically get ready," he says in a telephone interview from Port-au-Prince. "It’s not like the Haitian people were ready to fix 100,000 buildings right after the earthquake."
No repairs until next yearA postearthquake structural expert with experience in China and Chile, Miyamoto estimates it will take 12 to 24 months to repair or reconstruct all 200,000 damaged or destroyed homes. That's assuming the money actually comes through from international donors who pledged billions of dollars but seem reluctant to actually open their wallets, he says. “By sometime early next year,” he says, “you will see reconstruction.”
Miyamoto defends the decision to train Haitians to fix the buildings, rather than bring in more international workers to do the job. “Haiti doesn’t want thousands of engineers to show up and do the work for them,” he says. “So we have to train local engineers.”
But at the same time, this decision has slowed relief efforts and left hundreds of thousands of people in the dense, unsanitary, and dangerous tent cities. Rape is widespread. And now, a hurricane is potentially about the bear down on the island.
Tomas picks up speed
Tropical storm Tomas was briefly downgraded Wednesday to a tropical depression, but wind speeds increased by 10 m.p.h. through the day to an average of 45 m.p.h. A tropical storm has wind speeds of 39 to 73 m.p.h., after which it reaches hurricane status. "Tomas is still forecast to slam into earthquake-ravaged Haiti as a hurricane late this week," the AccuWeather.com Weather Center said in a statement Wednesday.
West of Port-au-Prince in the city of Léogâne, Dr. Montlaux of Doctors Without Borders says that another 150,000 people are estimated to live in tents – nearly three-quarters of the local population. His 120-bed hospital, with about 40 staff, is the only medical center in all of Léogâne.
In addition to latching down the windows, he says hospital workers spent this week stocking up food, water, and medicine. A team of doctors was sent to the western tip of the island to treat potential victims of storm Tomas.
“Part of the preparation is not only to protect our things but to be of assistance right after the weekend,” he says. “We will have a large number of people who are affected. ... I would not be worried if everyone had a strong house where they could stay for the weekend."
- 1 year ago
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EthicalVegan
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EthicalVegan
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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/1104/Haiti-s-tent-cities-to-bear-wo...
PART ONE...
Haiti's tent cities to bear worst of potential hurricane Tomas
Some 1.3 million Haitians in the capital's tent cities have nowhere to go as potential hurricane Tomas approaches, even as 120,000 homes sit vacant and easily repairable.
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A boy leaned over an abandoned aircraft Wednesday in a camp set up for the Jan. 12 earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The site used to be an air strip Authorities are advising all people living in the tent cities to seek better shelter as tropical storm Tomas approaches.
Ariana Cubillos/AP
By Stephen Kurczy, Staff writer / November 4, 2010
As tropical storm Tomas speeds toward Haiti, threatening to turn into a hurricane before it passes just west of the island Friday morning, some 1.3 million people are virtually trapped in Port-au-Prince’s flimsy tent cities.
In the countryside, hundreds of thousands more Haitians still live in tents following the 7.0 earthquake the leveled the capital and surrounding areas in January.
Authorities have advised anyone living in makeshift camps to seek refuge in sturdier buildings, but many say they don't have that option.
“The majority of people have nowhere to go,” says Stefan Reynier, the head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Léogâne, 18 miles west of the capital. “Those people will not be protected.”
This is despite the fact that more than 100,000 homes in Port-au-Prince sit vacant and in need of only minimal repairs since an earthquake rocked the country in January, according to aid organizations in the country. Each home could be repaired with only days worth of work and several thousand dollars in supplies, they say.
The slow pace of postearthquake relief and reconstruction efforts has been on display for 10 months. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have seen their situations unchanged since the weeks after the earthquake killed 300,000 people. The situation may now be reaching a head, with tropical storm Tomas approaching, thousands of people homeless, and a cholera outbreak threatening to spread nationwide, all while the country gears up for presidential elections in mere weeks.
Tent cities ordered to clear out
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami on Wednesday night issued a hurricane warning for the coast of Haiti. Tomas is expected to make landfall on Friday and dump 5 to 10 inches of rain across the island, according to the NHC.
Whatever the storm's incarnation, “it will create a bad situation for people living, and good conditions for cholera spreading in the water with the bad sanitation, with the movement of population,” adds Dr. Reynier.
The Haitian government has told citizens to evacuate their tent shelters and find secure housing – a tall order, considering the January earthquake damaged or destroyed some 200,000 homes in Port-au-Prince. Because of the city's poor drainage, streets strewn with rubble, and lack of trees or vegetation, flash floods could hit and rush through the dense tent camps.
“It’s a recipe for disaster,” says Michael Zamba, spokesman for the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) in Washington, which has operated in Haiti for nearly 30 years.
120,000 homes easily repairableYet of those 200,000 damaged or destroyed homes, only 40 percent are irreparable, says Kit Miyamoto, the CEO of Miyamoto International, Structural and Earthquake Engineers (MI), which has been helping assess the city. Dr. Miyamoto notes that about 60 percent of them, or 120,000 homes, could easily be repaired with only days worth of work.
CONTINUED...
- 1 year ago
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EthicalVegan
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HAITI PRIME MINISTER WARNS OF TRIPLE DISASTER AS HURRICANE TOMAS HITS
With Haiti recovering from an earthquake and cholera outbreak as hurricane Tomas hit, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told the Monitor, 'It’s just piling on us, just making bigger and bigger problems.'
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Photo: Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive (r.) listens as former U.S. President Bill Clinton (not pictured) speaks during a news conference outside the prime minister's office in Port-au-Prince, on Oct. 6.
Allison Shelley/Reuters
By Isabeau Doucet, Contributor / November 5, 2010
Port-au-Prince, HaitiHaitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive says his government is preparing for three simultaneous humanitarian disasters, as hurricane Tomas began dumping up to 10 inches of rain on the island today.
"It's not like we had the earthquake, then cholera, and now a hurricane," he told the Monitor in an interview Thursday at his private residence in Pétionville. "We still have the consequences of the earthquake, we are facing the cholera ... and now we’re preparing for the hurricane coming, so it’s just piling on us, just making bigger and bigger problems."
Hurricane Tomas skirted Haiti Friday but unleashed 12 hours of rainfall on the earthquake-ravaged capital. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami forecasted hurricane conditions over portions of Haiti this afternoon and tonight.
In October, a cholera outbreak in the countryside claimed more than 440 lives and infected thousands more people. It has so far been prevented from spreading to Port-au-Prince, devastated in January's earthquake that killed 300,000 people.
But since the earthquake, Mr. Bellerive says, the Haitian government has learned much from 10 months of relief efforts and was able to prepare for the worst in anticipation of Tomas.
"We have more experience, we have better coordination with NGOs and the humanitarian community, and also we have from day one – and even from day minus one, three or four – the government forewarning," says Bellerive. "Nobody could anticipate the earthquake, or the date of the cholera epidemic. But the hurricane we had days to prepare."
Aid groups and the Haitian government were this week stockpiling tents, water purification equipment, and other emergency supplies around the country. US Southern Command ordered the USS Iwo Jima to Haiti to provide poststorm support.
So far, the densely populated and impoverished neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince have avoided the worst-case scenario of 85 m.p.h. winds ripping through the camps and making matchsticks out of the flimsy shelters.
While Port-au-Prince was spared the brunt of Tomas’s force, the danger now lies with the volume of water soaking the city. The National Hurricane Center warned of potential flash flooding and mudslides. Already, one person drowned today in Les Cayes in the south.
Haiti is vulnerable to severe flooding. Whenever there’s a light shower, neighborhoods like Cite Soleil and Bel Air fill up like bathtubs, bobbing with garbage and human waste. Two days of solid rain could mean raw sewage, trash, and latrines overflowing in the capital's tent camps.
With the threat of a cholera epidemic already looming, Tomas is creating ripe conditions for massive contamination. "The situation will worsen further if you do not follow hygiene guidelines," Minister of Public Health Alex Larsen told local press.
The Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission promised in August to build hurricane shelters for at least 400,000 people within three months. But the majority of the capital's 1.3 million homeless have no permanent shelter as Tomas begins to rain down.
"Tomas and cholera are exams for the UN and international NGOs, which will reveal how well they have been performing so far," says Etan Dupin, editor of Kreole newspaper Bri Kori Nouvel Gaye (translated "Noise Travels, News Spreads"). "They have known for 10 months our vulnerability to both these catastrophes and they have been given the maximum time to prepare.”
Since the cholera outbreak, Mr. Dupin has been driving his truck around the capital and provinces. Using a megaphone and speakers attacked to the truck's roof, he advises locals how to avoid contamination.
- 1 year ago
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EthicalVegan
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CONTINUED…
PART TWO…
Tomas became a Category 1 hurricane as it approached Haiti early Friday, forecasters said.
The biggest threats were mud slides and flash flooding, said CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf. Port-au-Prince is bounded on three sides by hills, and rain runoff could cause flooding, Wolf said. The low-lying port city also borders the Caribbean Sea.
Winds from the storm had slowed to 75 mph (120 kph), the Hurricane Center said Friday afternoon, adding that Tomas was moving northeast at 14 mph (22 kph). The eye of the storm was expected to pass near or over the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands Friday night or early Saturday.
Rain associated with the storm started falling on Haiti on Thursday as aid agencies scrambled to move as many people as possible into storm shelters.
Tomas was forecast to dump 5 to 10 inches of rain over Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches in some areas. In addition, a storm surge in the warning area could raise water levels by as much as 8 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore winds, accompanied by "large and destructive waves," the Hurricane Center said.
Many structures that would usually be used for storm shelters -- schools and hospitals -- are no longer standing. And many of Haiti's homeless have no options.
As it did after the earthquake, the United States offered its assistance.
The U.S Agency for International Development had pre-positioned supplies, but rushed more into the country before the airport closed ahead of the storm, said Mark Ward, acting director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.
"We had enough in the country for 100,000 people," he said. "When it became clear within the last week that we were going to get a severe storm, we got a lot more in. We added enough to help another 25,000 people."
Citing Haitian authorities, Ward said at a Friday briefing for reporters that about half the residents at temporary camps left those facilities overnight to stay with family or friends. He said the Haitian government has confirmed one fatality.
In addition, the U.S. Navy redirected the USS Iwo Jima to Haiti from Suriname, where the ship's crew was conducting a four-month humanitarian mission.
Navy Capt. Thomas Negus, the commander of Continuing Promise, said the Iwo Jima was east of Haiti Friday afternoon. Commanders were waiting for weather conditions to clear enough to allow the ship's eight helicopters to begin flying over Haiti, looking for people and communities in need of immediate aid and scouting for damage that could slow the distribution of pre-positioned relief supplies.
"We will be poised to provide immediate life-saving should that be necessary," Negus told journalists during a telephone call from the Iwo Jima.
In addition to search-and-rescue-trained helicopter crews, the ship is carrying more than 200 medical personnel and 60 Navy construction engineers who can help with recovery efforts. The ship is also carrying a 500-member Marine task force and personnel from nongovernmental relief agencies.
Negus, who participated in the Navy response to the earthquake, said he did not expect the damage from Tomas to be anywhere near as severe.
"It's everyone's prayer here that our capabilities will not be required," Negus said. "But everyone should be very confident that we are prepared if they are."
Tomas was previously a Category 2 hurricane and then weakened to a tropical depression before re-intensifying. Forecasters predict it could strengthen during the next 24 hours before weakening again Saturday night and Sunday.
CNN's Michael Pearson and Ashley Hayes contributed to this report.
- 1 year ago
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EthicalVegan
