October 12, 2016 The Skanner Page 9
News
Haitians Await Aid, Help Each Other Regain Some Normalcy
By Ben Fox and David
Mcfadden, Associated
Press
LES CAYES, Haiti (AP)
— People throughout
Haiti’s devastated south-
west peninsula formed
makeshit brigades Tues-
day to clear debris and
try to regain some sem-
blance of their pre-hur-
ricane lives as they grew
increasingly angry about
the delay in aid for re-
mote communities more
than a week ater the Cat-
egory 4 storm hit.
A community group
that formed in the south-
ern seaside community
of Les Anglais began
clearing tree limbs from
streets and placing them
into piles while others
gathered scraps of wood
to start rebuilding homes
destroyed by Hurricane
Matthew.
Carpenter James Nas-
sau donned a white con-
struction helmet as he
rebuilt a neighbor’s wall
with recycled wood, hop-
“
about 750,000 people in
southwest Haiti alone
will need “life-saving as-
sistance and protection”
in the next three months.
U.N. oicials said earlier
that at least 1.4 million
people across the region
need assistance and that
2.1 million overall have
been afected by the hur-
ricane. Some 175,000 peo-
ple remain in shelters.
The National Civil Pro-
tection headquarters in
Port-au-Prince raised the
oicial nationwide death
toll to 372, which includ-
ed at least 198 deaths in
Grand-Anse. But local
oicials have said the toll
in Grand-Anse alone tops
500.
In the western seaside
village of Dame Marie,
300 patients with fester-
ing wounds lay silently
on beds at the main hos-
pital waiting for med-
icine a week ater the
storm hit.
Among the injured
was Beauvoir Luckner, a
cobbler and farmer who
There’s no water, no antibi-
otics. Everything is depleted.
... We hear Helicopters lying
overhead, but we’re not get-
ting anything
ing to earn a little money
to take care of 10 chil-
dren, including those let
behind by his brother,
who died in the storm.
“My brother let ive
kids, and now I’ve got
to take care of them,” he
said. “Nobody has come
to help.”
The scene repeated it-
self across small seaside
and mountain villages
dotting the peninsula,
where people pointed
out helicopters buzzing
overhead but questioned
why they haven’t re-
ceived any help.
Israel Banissa, a car-
penter who lives near the
tiny mountain town of
Moron, said a Red Cross
assessment team stopped
outside his village to ask
people questions but did
not leave any supplies.
“There’s no aid that’s
come here,” he said as
he sawed wood to help
rebuild his home and
dozens of others. “I don’t
think they care about the
people up here.”
Some Haitians opted
to travel to the capital
of Port-au-Prince and
stay with relatives until
the situation slowly im-
proved.
The U.N. humanitar-
ian agency in Geneva
has made an emergency
appeal for nearly $120
million in aid, saying
walked 12 kilometers
(seven miles) in three
days ater a tree fell on
his house, crushing his
leg and killing his moth-
er. The leg might have
to be amputated, but all
doctors can do is clean
his wounds because the
hospital has run out of
everything,
including
painkillers.
“There’s no water, no
antibiotics,” Dr. Herby
Jean told The Associated
Press. “Everything is de-
pleted. ... We hear heli-
copters lying overhead,
but we’re not getting any-
thing.”
Meanwhile, Luckner
lay on a mattress with
no sheets, a bandage
wrapped around his let
leg.
“It took a lot of misery
to get here and now that
I’m here, there’s still mis-
ery,” he said.
Concern also was grow-
ing about an increase in
cases of cholera, which
has already killed rough-
ly 10,000 people and sick-
ened more than 800,000
since 2010.
Dr. Dominique Legros,
a top cholera oicial at
the World Health Organi-
zation, said Tuesday that
the agency had decided
to send 1 million doses of
cholera vaccine to Haiti
“as soon as possible” and
said safe drinking water
and treatment of those
afected by the disease
are top priorities.
U.N. Secretary-Gener-
al Ban Ki-moon told re-
porters in New York on
Monday that a “massive
response” was needed to
help Haiti emerge from
the storm’s atermath.
He noted that crops and
food reserves were de-
stroyed and that at least
300 schools have been
damaged.
McFadden
reported
from Moron, Haiti. Asso-
ciated Press writer Jamey
Keaten contributed to this
report from Geneva.
AP PHOTO/REBECCA BLACKWELL
U.N. has made an emergency appeal for nearly $120 million in aid for Hurricane Matthew recovery
A sign in French announcing a music concert sits among salvaged clothes drying on the remains of a
home destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in Port-a-Piment, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Nearly a week after
the storm smashed into southwestern Haiti, some communities along the southern coast have yet to
receive any assistance, leaving residents who have lost their homes and virtually all of their belongings
struggling to ind shelter and potable water.