LES CAYES, HAITI: Rescuers and scrap metal scavengers dug into the floor of a collapsed hotel in the earthquake-ravaged coastal city on Monday, where 15 bodies had already been retrieved. Jean Mois Fortune, whose brother, the hotel owner, was killed in the earthquake, believed that two or three people were trapped in the rubble.
But based on the size of the voids, which workers carefully observed, perhaps a foot (0.3 m) deep, survivors were unlikely to be found.
The quake, centered about 125 kilometers (80 mi) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, nearly devastated some towns and triggered landslides that hampered rescue efforts in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Hui. Haiti was already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, mass violence, worsening poverty and political uncertainty following the July 7 assassination of President Jovanel Mosse.
And that devastation could soon be made worse by the arrival of Tropical Depression Grace, which was predicted to reach Haiti on Monday night. The country’s civil protection agency said strong winds, heavy rain, rough seas, landslides and flash floods were expected. Rainfall amounts can reach 15 inches (38 cm) in some areas.
While the residents of Les Cays remove twisted piles of scrap metal to earn some money, Duques Sylvain was trying to detect signs of life.
“Those people are risking their lives for even a little scrap,” said the 37-year-old of locals buried in a huge pile of rubble. “I’m just concerned about people’s lives.”
At a football field, as families who had lost their homes tried to create a little shade with sheets and batons, people gathered to receive food being delivered from a truck.
The Civil Protection Agency said a 7.2-magnitude quake had killed 1,297 people as of Sunday, a day after the quake reduced thousands of structures to rubble and shut down frantic rescue efforts ahead of a potential deluge from the oncoming tropical storm. Gave.
At least 5,700 people were injured in Saturday’s earthquake, while thousands were displaced from homes destroyed or damaged. After sunset on Sunday, Les Cays was darkened by intermittent blackouts, and many people slept outside, holding small transistor radios with news, fearing the constant shaking.
Meanwhile, efforts were on to provide medical facilities to the injured.
Amid Haiti’s sweltering heat, Jenny Auguste had a blank stare as she lay on a flimsy foam mattress spread out on the airport’s tarmac on Sunday. Auguste suffered chest, stomach and arm injuries when the roof of the shop she worked in collapsed during Saturday’s earthquake.
She occasionally flashed a grin of pain while her sister or other helpful onlookers waved at her. With hospitals flooding in Les Cays, Auguste could only wait—for hospital beds to open, or for the wounded to be available on one of the small planes that carried them to Haiti’s capital.
“Nothing has happened. No help, nothing from the government,” said Auguste’s sister Bertrande as the death toll continued to rise.
Officials said the quake destroyed more than 7,000 homes and damaged about 5,000, leaving about 30,000 families homeless. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches were also destroyed or badly damaged.
In a scene widely repeated in the earthquake zone, people lined up to buy what was available: bananas, avocados and water at a street market. Workers tore up the rubble of collapsed buildings with heavy machinery, shovels and sticks.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that under the dire circumstances, local authorities had to negotiate with gangs in the seaside district of Martisant to allow two humanitarian convoys to pass through the area in a day. The agency called Haiti’s southern peninsula a “hot spot for gang-related violence”, where humanitarian activists have been repeatedly attacked.
The agency said the area has been “nearly inaccessible” over the past two months due to road blockages and safety concerns. Agency spokeswoman Anna Jefferies said the first convoy passed on Sunday with government and UN personnel. he added that a‘s world food program There are plans to send food supplies through trucks on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry has declared a month-long state of emergency for the entire country and said first aid convoys have begun delivering aid to areas where cities were destroyed and hospitals were overwhelmed.
UNICEF Executive director Henrietta Fore said humanitarian needs were acute, with many Haitians in urgent need of health care, clean water and shelter. He said that children separated from their parents also need protection.
Referring to the 2010 earthquake, which devastated Haiti’s capital, killing thousands, Fore said: “In less than a decade, Haiti is once again being affected. And the disaster coincides with political instability, rising mass violence, alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children and the COVID-19 pandemic – for which Haiti has received just 500,000 vaccine doses, despite needing more. ”
The first batch of coronavirus vaccines donated by the US to the nation of 11 million people was just last month a . was received through United Nations programs for low-income countries.
Medical workers from all over the region were scrambling for help as hospitals in Les Cays began to run out of space to perform surgeries.
“Basically, they need everything,” Dr. Innobert Pierre, a pediatrician at the nonprofit Health Equity International, which oversees St. Boniface Hospital, about two hours from Les Cays.
“Many of the patients have open wounds and are exposed to clean-up elements,” said Pierre, who visited two hospitals in Les Cays. of infection.”
Pierre’s medical team was taking some patients to St Boniface for surgery, but with just two ambulances, they could only take four at a time.
Small planes from Agape Flights, a private firm and Florida-based missionary service, landed at Port-au-Prince airport on Sunday, injuring about a half-dozen from the Les Cayes area. Young men on bandages and a woman are hoisted onto stretchers as they wait for a Haitian Red Cross ambulance.
Working with USAID, US Coast Guard Said a helicopter was carrying medical personnel from the capital of Haiti to the earthquake zone and the injured back to Port-au-Prince. The spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Jason Niemann, said other aircraft and ships were being sent.
But based on the size of the voids, which workers carefully observed, perhaps a foot (0.3 m) deep, survivors were unlikely to be found.
The quake, centered about 125 kilometers (80 mi) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, nearly devastated some towns and triggered landslides that hampered rescue efforts in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Hui. Haiti was already grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, mass violence, worsening poverty and political uncertainty following the July 7 assassination of President Jovanel Mosse.
And that devastation could soon be made worse by the arrival of Tropical Depression Grace, which was predicted to reach Haiti on Monday night. The country’s civil protection agency said strong winds, heavy rain, rough seas, landslides and flash floods were expected. Rainfall amounts can reach 15 inches (38 cm) in some areas.
While the residents of Les Cays remove twisted piles of scrap metal to earn some money, Duques Sylvain was trying to detect signs of life.
“Those people are risking their lives for even a little scrap,” said the 37-year-old of locals buried in a huge pile of rubble. “I’m just concerned about people’s lives.”
At a football field, as families who had lost their homes tried to create a little shade with sheets and batons, people gathered to receive food being delivered from a truck.
The Civil Protection Agency said a 7.2-magnitude quake had killed 1,297 people as of Sunday, a day after the quake reduced thousands of structures to rubble and shut down frantic rescue efforts ahead of a potential deluge from the oncoming tropical storm. Gave.
At least 5,700 people were injured in Saturday’s earthquake, while thousands were displaced from homes destroyed or damaged. After sunset on Sunday, Les Cays was darkened by intermittent blackouts, and many people slept outside, holding small transistor radios with news, fearing the constant shaking.
Meanwhile, efforts were on to provide medical facilities to the injured.
Amid Haiti’s sweltering heat, Jenny Auguste had a blank stare as she lay on a flimsy foam mattress spread out on the airport’s tarmac on Sunday. Auguste suffered chest, stomach and arm injuries when the roof of the shop she worked in collapsed during Saturday’s earthquake.
She occasionally flashed a grin of pain while her sister or other helpful onlookers waved at her. With hospitals flooding in Les Cays, Auguste could only wait—for hospital beds to open, or for the wounded to be available on one of the small planes that carried them to Haiti’s capital.
“Nothing has happened. No help, nothing from the government,” said Auguste’s sister Bertrande as the death toll continued to rise.
Officials said the quake destroyed more than 7,000 homes and damaged about 5,000, leaving about 30,000 families homeless. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches were also destroyed or badly damaged.
In a scene widely repeated in the earthquake zone, people lined up to buy what was available: bananas, avocados and water at a street market. Workers tore up the rubble of collapsed buildings with heavy machinery, shovels and sticks.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that under the dire circumstances, local authorities had to negotiate with gangs in the seaside district of Martisant to allow two humanitarian convoys to pass through the area in a day. The agency called Haiti’s southern peninsula a “hot spot for gang-related violence”, where humanitarian activists have been repeatedly attacked.
The agency said the area has been “nearly inaccessible” over the past two months due to road blockages and safety concerns. Agency spokeswoman Anna Jefferies said the first convoy passed on Sunday with government and UN personnel. he added that a‘s world food program There are plans to send food supplies through trucks on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry has declared a month-long state of emergency for the entire country and said first aid convoys have begun delivering aid to areas where cities were destroyed and hospitals were overwhelmed.
UNICEF Executive director Henrietta Fore said humanitarian needs were acute, with many Haitians in urgent need of health care, clean water and shelter. He said that children separated from their parents also need protection.
Referring to the 2010 earthquake, which devastated Haiti’s capital, killing thousands, Fore said: “In less than a decade, Haiti is once again being affected. And the disaster coincides with political instability, rising mass violence, alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children and the COVID-19 pandemic – for which Haiti has received just 500,000 vaccine doses, despite needing more. ”
The first batch of coronavirus vaccines donated by the US to the nation of 11 million people was just last month a . was received through United Nations programs for low-income countries.
Medical workers from all over the region were scrambling for help as hospitals in Les Cays began to run out of space to perform surgeries.
“Basically, they need everything,” Dr. Innobert Pierre, a pediatrician at the nonprofit Health Equity International, which oversees St. Boniface Hospital, about two hours from Les Cays.
“Many of the patients have open wounds and are exposed to clean-up elements,” said Pierre, who visited two hospitals in Les Cays. of infection.”
Pierre’s medical team was taking some patients to St Boniface for surgery, but with just two ambulances, they could only take four at a time.
Small planes from Agape Flights, a private firm and Florida-based missionary service, landed at Port-au-Prince airport on Sunday, injuring about a half-dozen from the Les Cayes area. Young men on bandages and a woman are hoisted onto stretchers as they wait for a Haitian Red Cross ambulance.
Working with USAID, US Coast Guard Said a helicopter was carrying medical personnel from the capital of Haiti to the earthquake zone and the injured back to Port-au-Prince. The spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Jason Niemann, said other aircraft and ships were being sent.
.