advertisement

Haiti mourns as families bury loved ones killed by hurricane

JEREMIE, Haiti (AP) - As a pale blue coffin came into view, grieving women flung themselves to the floor near a morgue overlooking the ravaged city of Jeremie, where a humanitarian crisis has emerged in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.

Mourners beat their fists and screamed, their distress growing more intense as attendants opened the door of the morgue on Saturday to bring out the body of Roberto Laguerre, who was killed next to his 3-year-old daughter when the storm roared through this city in southwest Haiti as a Category 4 storm earlier in the week.

"Why did you leave us? Take me with you!" shouted relative Rita Honore.

Roberto and his daughter, Roseberlande, are among more than 500 people killed from the immediate effects of the storm in southwest Haiti. Authorities fear diseases such as cholera could cause more deaths in the area while the destruction of crops and livestock could cause many people to go hungry.

The precise death toll from the storm remained uncertain. Guillaume Silvera, a senior official with the Civil Protection Agency in the Grand-Anse Department, which is on the tip of the southern peninsula and includes the city of Jeremie, said they had confirmed 522 deaths, not including anyone in several remote communities that they have yet to reach because of collapsed roads and bridges.

"We think the numbers will have to go up," Silvera said.

Civil Protection headquarters in Port-au-Prince, meanwhile, said Saturday their official count for the whole country was 336, which included 191 deaths in Grand-Anse.

UNICEF said that in Grand Anse alone there were 66,000 houses destroyed and 20,000 heavily damaged.

"Information gathered from various sources in the field suggest that the human toll (dead and injured) will be heavier than the current official figures," the agency said in a report.

Death tolls are frequently difficult to tabulate in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster in any country, though it is particularly difficult in remote and mountainous southwest Haiti.

Government officials estimate that at least 350,000 people need assistance, and concern was growing over an increase in cholera cases following widespread flooding unleashed by Matthew. An ongoing cholera outbreak has already killed roughly 10,000 people and sickened more than 800,000 since 2010, when the infectious disease was introduced into the country's biggest river from a U.N. base where Nepalese peacekeepers were deployed.

Maria Sofia Sanon, a health worker overseeing the open-air cholera treatment center in a corner of Jeremie's main hospital, said they were ill-equipped to deal with patients. The area was strewn with broken tree branches, and a group of young mothers sat outside holding up the arms of their glassy-eyed children being rehydrated via IVs.

"They're not supposed to be in the sun, but we have no more beds," Sanon said.

Nearby, officials with the Red Cross were unloading blankets, soaps, bleach and other items as aid began to reach remote corners of Haiti's southwest peninsula.

"It's beginning to pick up now," said Stephane Rolland, coordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross for Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Cuban medical teams were dispatched to coastal villages, and officials began distributing food in storm shelters and in the main plaza of Jeremie, where thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and many people were running low on food.

Jocelyne Saint Preux was part of the crowd that lined up in an orderly fashion to get food as aid began to arrive, including shipments of food and other emergency supplies from the U.S. Agency for International Development carried by waves of military transport helicopters.

The mother of three children whose home was destroyed said officials were handing out wheat, beans, oil and salt.

"Yes, they brought food, but it's not sufficient," she said. "There's no water. There's no charcoal."

As aid trickled into Jeremie, Jislene Jean-Baptiste surveyed what remained of the one-room house that the grandmother shares with her three daughters and their children. There wasn't much left. Storm surge flowed across the road and drenched her belongings in waist-deep salt water, washing away the stores of rice and sugar she regularly sold at the market to support her family. Then the wind tore off her roof.

"That storm was the most terrifying thing that ever happened here," she said.

__

Fox reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

People carry the coffin of Roberto Laguerre to bury him at the cemetery in Jeremie, Haiti, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Roberto, 32, died when the wall of a church next door to his home fell during Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
A boy lies on a table in a shelter after Hurricane Matthew passed in Jeremie Haiti, Saturday Oct. 8, 2016. Aid has begun pouring into the hard-hit town, where thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and many people were running low on food and facing an increased risk for cholera. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
Residents carry a coffin containing the remains of a pregnant woman, a victim of Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, Haiti. Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. People across southwest Haiti were digging through the wreckage of their homes Friday, salvaging what they could of their meager possessions after Matthew killed hundreds of people in the impoverished country. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
Theodor Florine 8, lies on a bed at the state hospital after Hurricane Matthew passed in Jeremie, Haiti. Saturday Oct. 8, 2016. Aid has begun pouring into the hard-hit town, where thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and many people were running low on food and facing an increased risk for cholera. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
Andrenne Joseph dries her clothes near her destroyed house caused by Hurricane Matthew, in Jeremie, Haiti. Saturday Oct. 8, 2016. Aid has begun pouring into the hard-hit town, where thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and many people were running low on food and facing an increased risk for cholera. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
A boy stands on top of the hillside of town of Jeremie, Haiti, that was destroyed by Hurricane, Saturday Oct. 8, 2016. Aid has begun pouring into the hard-hit town, where thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and many people were running low on food and facing an increased risk for cholera. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
A homeless man lies on a piece of wood in a shelter after Hurricane Matthew in Jeremie, Haiti. Saturday Oct. 8, 2016. Aid has begun pouring into the hard-hit town, where thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed and many people were running low on food and facing an increased risk for cholera. ( AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
Women from the Laguerre family cry during the burial of Roberto Laguerre in Jeremie, Haiti, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Roberto, 32, died when the wall of a church next door to his home fell during Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
Women from the Laguerre family cry during the burial of Roberto Laguerre in Jeremie, Haiti, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Roberto, 32, died when the wall of a church next door to his home fell during Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
People unload food and water boated in from the "Mission of Hope" charity after Hurricane Matthew swept through Jeremie, Haiti, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Jeremie appears to be the epicenter of the country's growing humanitarian crisis in the wake of the storm. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
Residents wait on the shore as a boat with water and food from the "Mission of Hope" charity arrives after Hurricane Matthew swept through Jeremie, Haiti, Saturday Oct. 8, 2016. Jeremie appears to be the epicenter of the country's growing humanitarian crisis in the wake of the storm. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
A person shows the identification card of Roberto Laguerre during Laguerre's burial in Jeremie, Haiti, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. Roberto, 32, died when the wall of a church next door to his home fell during Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) The Associated Press
Residents clean a street muddied by the heavy rains brought by Hurricane Matthew in Baracoa, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. Matthew hit Cuba's lightly populated eastern tip Tuesday night, damaging hundreds of homes in the easternmost city of Baracoa but there were no reports of deaths. Water and electricity were restored to much of the town Friday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) The Associated Press
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.