Rescuers struggle as Caribbean death toll rises above 900
by Dominique Levanti
Friday, May 28, 2004
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): An
international rescue operation for Haiti and the Dominican Republic gathered
pace Thursday as the death toll from flash floods rose to 918 with hundreds
still missing. The United Nations and other
aid agencies were trying to get water and medical supplies to the worst hit
towns, UN officials said. But bad weather held up efforts.
The official toll in the Dominican Republic rose Thursday to 339 dead and at
least 375 missing, mainly in the devastated town of Jimani. The official toll
in Haiti rose by eight overnight to 579 dead.
National Emergency Commission spokesman Jose Luis German said 329 were
confirmed dead, 375 missing and 122 injured in Jimani, which was virtually
wiped out by the flash floods in the early hours of Monday.
Ten other deaths in the rest of the country have also been blamed on the
floods. German said the toll in the Jimani
region would certainly rise as the affected zone was very spread out.
In Haiti, UN relief agencies and non-government groups were trying to fly
food, water and medical supplies to the worst hit towns of Mapou Belle-Anse
and Fonds Verette. But bad weather was
holding up helicopter flights. A Geneva
spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
said a local UN mission, the Red Cross and the Oxfam charity had flown to
Mapou Belle-Anse in the southeast with 1.5 tonnes of water and water
purification tablets. A joint World Food
Programme and Haitian health ministry team was to go to Fonds Verette, north
east of Port-au-Prince, with food supplies, the spokeswoman added.
Two teams of UN disaster experts will leave for Haiti and the Dominican
Republic by Friday to help the relief efforts, the OCHA spokeswoman said.
In Haiti, members of the multi-national force brought in to assure security
after deposed president Jean Bertrand Aristide resigned and fled at the end of
February were also trying to get emergency supplies to the worst-hit areas.
At least 272 people were reported dead in Mapou Belle-Anse and at least 100 in
the Grand Gosier area. Another 165 died in Fonds Verettes.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic make up the island of Hispaniola which was
hit by 10 days of torrential rains turning rivers into raging torrents. Many
of the dead were swept away as they slept in their beds.
In Jimani, many of the people buried in mass graves because of public health
concerns were women and children, although families could claim a relative's
body. "The problem is that entire families
were lost," he said, "so there's no one to claim them."
More than 32,000 residents have moved out of Jimani, which is 175 miles west
of Santo Domingo, near border with Haiti. About 210 families lost their homes.
Hundreds of Civil Defense rescuers firefighters and the Red Cross used
backhoes and shovels to remove mud covering homes and streets as they looked
for survivors, although hopes dimmed on the fourth day after the floods.
Dominican President Hipolito Mejia and US ambassador Hans Hertell examined the
devastation. Mejia declared the town a disaster area and a day of national
mourning. The devastation was such that "even
the cemetery was destroyed," German said.
Inhabitants of the two countries have told of miraculous survival tales as the
Soleil river turned into a torrent in Jimani on Monday.
Bartolina Diaz, 65, said she clung to an iron door on her house that the
waters could not drag away, while Dionisio Mendez, 86, who is blind, was swept
a kilometer (0.6 mile) downstream before he managed to grab a tree.
The US State Department said the US Agency for International Development had
provided 50,000 dollars in aid, while the agency's advisors were conducting
on-scene assessments for further aid.
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