Suffering continues in weary Haiti

By Mike Thomson
Today programme, Haiti

Humanitarian assistance is needed by an estimated 800,000 people

The deadly rains and winds may have gone for now but the suffering continues in the world of water they have left behind.

In one of the country's worst hit areas north of the capital, Gonaives, roads have become rivers and town squares, swamps.

The city of Gonaives is slowly draining but it is still virtually a lake. Its 350,000 people have to wade through often waist-high waters when they leave their homes.

Many do not even have homes anymore. Hundreds of thousands of people in the country no longer have anywhere to live.

Many are forced to set up homes on the roofs of taller buildings to escape the churning torrents below.

More than 70,000 others cram into overcrowded shelters where there is often no room to sleep or any kind of hygienic sanitation. As the floods recede, they uncover the bloated corpses of animals - and sometimes people - who were swept away during the series of hurricanes in recent weeks.

Those forced to walk through these already sewage polluted waters complain of all kinds of skin diseases. It is feared worse elements may soon follow. As many as 600 people are thought to have died though in these chaotic conditions the figures fluctuate day by day.

Storms wreak havoc in Haiti. In pictures

There does, however, seem to be general consensus over the level of help people are getting from the Haitian government: little or nothing is what they tell me.

Similar disenchantment is voiced about relief supplied by the UN and international aid agencies.

Yet aid is arriving in Haiti.

On Monday, the US navy arrived with food and medical supplies and the transportation required to get it where it's needed. The European Union has given nearly $3m for relief efforts and nearby Trinidad and Tobago have sent Haiti a further $1.5m.

As hunger and despair deepen, the fear of violence rises in a country where riots and armed anarchy are common Storm-battered Haitians left in despair

It's all vitally needed here, with an estimated 800,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance. But earlier this week in Gonaives a near riot ensued when food was given out and UN soldiers had to fire in the air to disperse people. The aid had to go back into the stores.

As hunger and despair deepen, the fear of violence rises in a country where riots and armed anarchy are common.

The most alarming fact for the people of this impoverished Caribbean nation is that there could be worse to come. More hurricanes are forecast to hit the region in the coming weeks.