Slideshow of Gonaives Haiti after 4 storms
USS Kearsarge in Gonaives Haiti with 8 Helicopters
After days of no food, no water, 6 foot deep flood waters and mud; Haiti is finally getting some relief. Gonaives, Sainte Marc, Hinche, Cabaret all affected by back to back hurricanes, Fay, Gustave and Ike. These cities represent over 600,000 people, displaced and homeless; half of these are children. The relief will be too late for many of them.
Primitive, unmaintained roads and bridges were washed out early by the storms; prohibiting distribution of aid. Fear of riots, reportedly, stopped the UN from immediately distributing 33 tons of relief delivered yesterday in Gonaives.
Meanwhile Haitians are walking for miles through mud and contaminated flood water, hoping to find food and water. Not only have thousands of mud and tin shacks been washed away with their inhabitants, but untold numbers of livestock have been swept away. Cadavers of both remain as yet undiscovered in the slowly receding waters, spreading disease and rendering wells useless.
Haiti is an agrarian society and the economic impact of destroyed crops and lost animals will be felt into next year. As will the malaria epidemic to follow.
The 8 US helicopters in place will assist in food distribution but what Haiti really needs is a miracle. The current disaster is a repeat of 2004 when 3000 people were killed in Tropical Storm Jeanne. Colonial drainage necessary to protect the region from flooding has been neglected by the Haitian government. Filled with garbage and built over in some places the clogged canals allow for the deadly flooding.
Deforested mountains surrounding Gonaives, Hinche and Sainte Marc funnel heavy rains into these cities. The Haitian government has failed to legislate in favor of reforestation projects or to implement one themselves.
Without government supported reforestation and government sponsored reconstruction of drainage, the Haitian cycle of natural disaster from tropical storms will continune over and over. Haiti needs your prayers for a divine intervention, a miracle.
ytrimble