“It looked like a machete just passed through the air at 200 miles per hour and chopped off everything.”
—Salvatore Enzo Del Brocco, priest from Dame-Marie
—Salvatore Enzo Del Brocco, priest from Dame-Marie
I
just returned from Haiti, and the damage is worse than we ever imagined
it would be. Hurricane Matthew pounded villages along the Tiburon
Peninsula in coastal southwest Haiti last week. Torrential downpours and
145 mile per hour winds felled trees, swept away people and animals,
and destroyed up to 90 percent of homes in some areas.
All told, 2.1 million people are affected and 1.4 million need immediate help.
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Food
and crops were destroyed, a critical loss because the region is a key
food producer for the entire country. Clean water is in short supply and
poor sanitation has triggered another outbreak of cholera—a disease
that has killed some 10,000 people since the 2010 earthquake. Already,
new cases are spiking.
The
streets are filled with clothes and mattresses as people are trying to
dry out their lives. Half the trees are down, and many homes are
destroyed. Thousands are holed up in shelters without even basic
necessities.
Still
in shock, people say they can't believe how the hurricane, which many
say they didn’t know was coming, could take everything they had so
quickly. Most have no food in what is left of their houses. Much of the
fruit from fallen trees is gone. They say they don't know where their
next meal will come from.
We
are setting up operations in Jeremie and Dame-Marie, hard-hit areas
left unreachable for days after the storm. CRS emergency experts,
arriving from around the world, are designing projects to help people
get clean water and prevent cholera.
Agriculture
teams are working with farmers whose crops were destroyed so they can
replant in time for harvest in December, when a food shortage could set
in.
There
are still many areas that haven’t been reached yet—areas that are hard
to reach even during normal conditions. But with so much destruction and
poor infrastructure, getting supplies to remote communities will be no
small task.
Some 1.4 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, and the question remains: Will it reach them in time?
I want to thank you for your generosity in this great time of need. And I want to ask you again—will you continue to help the people of Haiti suffering in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. The devastation and need is so great.
Thank you,
Robyn Fieser
Regional Information Officer Catholic Relief Services |
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