12/20/2012
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The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) today announced the approval of a $17.5 million grant to help the Haitian government rehabilitate transport infrastructure damaged during Hurricane Sandy. Sandy sideswiped Haiti late in October with torrential rains and floods that killed more than 50 people and ruined crops across the country’s southern region. The flooding also did extensive damage to roads and other infrastructure. The new IDB grant will help the Haitian government cover costs of clearing debris, repairing roads, bridges and drainage ditches, and stabilizing hillsides. Separately, Haitian authorities and IDB officials agreed last month to redirect resources from existing agriculture projects to support the government’s efforts to assist rural communities affected by the flooding.

Miami Herald
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
JCHARLES@MIAMIHERALD.COM
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PORT-AU-PRINCE -- The United Nations on Tuesday will launch a $144 million appeal to fund humanitarian programs that aid officials here say is urgently needed to help Haiti cope with the ongoing effects of Tropical Storm Sandy and other recent shocks. Already battling a deadly cholera epidemic that has killed 7,824 and sickened 629,300, Haitians are now facing a looming food crisis. Up to 1.5 million Haitians are facing increased hunger, a recent study has concluded — the result of the combined effects of $174 million in losses to livestock, crops and agricultural infrastructure after Tropical Storm Sandy hit in October and Tropical Storm Isaac in August; rising food prices; and a drought that hit Haiti’s northern regions earlier in the year. “Life isn’t good,” said Natasha Daniel, 33, who lives in a tent city in downtown Port-au-Prince. “You’ve got cholera here killing us, all of the (non-governmental organizations) have left and we here are still left in the camps.” Since the January 2010 earthquake, Haiti has managed to reduce the number of homeless camp dwellers from a high of 1.5 million immediately after the disaster to 358,000 today. Still, recovery and rebuilding has been slow and many challenges remain.
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The recent weather-related disasters also haven’t help, ruining agricultural crops throughout the poverty-stricken nation. The latest U.N. humanitarian appeal comes almost a week after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the world body was joining a $2.2 billion, 10-year cholera eradication plan on the island Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. Critics charge that the United Nations should do more. Still, the strategy is long-term and plenty of help is needed in the interim, said Nigel Fisher, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Haiti. “We get hit by the Sandys and so on, and we lose some of the resources we have like the Cholera Treatment Centers,” said Fisher, noting that at least 60 treatment center must be replaced. “We have a better alert system in the ministry of health, but we still need the logistics to get out to the health centers.” In addition to addressing cholera, Haitians also need cash-for-work and nutritional programs to get them through the coming months, said Myrta Kaulard, World Food Program country director. After Sandy, WFP did some emergency food distributions, along with the Haitian government, and started distributing a family food ration to children in schools in the worst affected areas.
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The appeal comes as humanitarian assistance dries up as illustrated by cutbacks and departures of non-governmental organizations since the earthquake, and the slow response to recent appeals. In 2010, UN humanitarian agencies requested $1.5 billion for Haiti and received $1.1 billion. The following year, they only raised $214 million from a $382 million request. A $40 million appeal immediately after Sandy garnered $14 million and another $15 million in commitments from foreign donors, Fisher said. George Ngwa Anuongong, spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said there are a combination of factors to explain the lackluster international response. “There are more humanitarian emergencies in the world today and the pool of funding is limited. That’s one reason,” he said. “The other reason, there are lots of partners who would like to see a transition from humanitarian to much more sustainable development so that we don’t have people living in the camps three years after the quake.”

U.S. Department of State
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The U.S. Government continues to assist the Government of Haiti (GoH) in responding to the agricultural and infrastructural damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. In support of the Haitian Government response to Hurricane Sandy, USAID/FFP will provide additional resources to strategic support partners, including CARE, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and World Vision in targeting localized food insecurity in La Gonave, Southeast, South and Central Plateau. USAID is considering assistance to other provinces through Cash/Vouchers for work programs to support short to medium term employment in community projects; procurement of seed and agricultural inputs to return damaged farms to productivity; targeted distribution of PL480 Title II commodities and provision of vouchers to the most food insecure households to purchase food and other items on the local market.
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Through the USAID WINNER program, the U.S. government has developed a POST-SANDY ACTION PLAN to target the Cul-de-Sac and Matheux, two major agricultural zones in Haiti. The goal is to rehabilitate important road and irrigation infrastructure recently damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Activities will be prioritized based on their importance to agricultural production. The plan, with a total of US$8.5 million, will be implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture. WINNER has also slated 13 roads for rehabilitation for a total of 173 km of rural roads in the Cul-de-Sac and Matheux and corridors. In the Cul-de-Sac, USAID will rehabilitate 5 rural roads (67 km) in the plains and another 5 (63 km) in the highlands. In the Matheux corridor, USAID will rehabilitate 2 roads (28 km) in the hills and another one (15 km) in the lowlands. The project has completed rehabilitating irrigation systems costing $5.7M in both the Cul-de-Sac and Matheux. Key activities included river bank treatment/protection, rebuilding and cleaning of irrigation canals, river bed rechanneling and resizing, and water intake from rivers.
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USAID WINNER also launched the bean planting season at a cost of $1M which will provide farmers with seeds and other inputs. USAID will continue to coordinate with the GoH and relief agency partners to assess humanitarian needs and additional USG funding requirements.

New York Times
By Randal C. Archibold
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FAUCHÉ, Haiti — A woman who lost just about everything now gives her children coffee for meals because it quiets their stomachs a bit. Another despondent mother relives the awful moment when her 18-month-old baby was swept from her arms by a flash flood. The bodies of a family of five killed in a mudslide still sit in a morgue unclaimed. Haitians, who know well the death and despair natural disasters can cause, suffered mightily from Hurricane Sandy, which bashed the country’s rural areas and killed at least 54 people. Three weeks after the hurricane’s deluge, Haiti, still struggling to recover from the earthquake in January 2010, is facing its biggest blow to reconstruction and slipping deeper into crisis, United Nations and government officials say, with hundreds of thousands of others at risk of hunger or malnutrition. All around this hamlet and others nearby, the men and women who farmed bananas, plantains, sugar cane, beans and breadfruit stare at fields swept of trees, still flooded or coated with river muck that will probably kill off whatever plants are left. They had little, have endured much, and now need more. Hardened by past disasters, they still fear the days and weeks ahead. “I do not know where we will find money for food and school now,” said Olibrun Hilaire, 61, surveying his wrecked plantain and sugar cane farm in Petit-Goâve that supported his family of 10 children and grandchildren.
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As if the quake were not enough, Haiti is now suffering the combined onslaught of storms and, before that, drought, imperiling its food supply, causing $254 million in agricultural losses and throwing 1.6 million people — about 16 percent of the population — into dire straits. Tropical Storm Isaac in August destroyed farms in the north, preceded by a spring drought that devastated farms there. Then came Hurricane Sandy, which passed west of Hispaniola and over Jamaica but was large enough to send 20 inches of rain over southern Haiti. Last week, as the government and the United Nations took stock of the storm and grappled with flooding in the north from a fresh cloudburst that left 10 people dead, they issued an emergency appeal for $39 million in humanitarian aid to a world weary of its recurrent disasters. United Nations officials said they had received pledges for about $8 million, and the Haitian government said it was in talks with donors to raise at least half the requested amount. “This is a major blow to Haiti’s reconstruction efforts, making life for most vulnerable Haitians even more precarious,” said the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Nigel Fisher. “International partners’ ability to respond has been reduced by dwindling donor support,” he added.
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The recent storms have damaged or destroyed 61 cholera treatment centers, leading to fears that there may be fresh outbreaks of an epidemic that has already killed more than 7,500 people since 2010. The storm’s rare direct strike on the New York metropolitan area was devastating, but the heartache here, too, is wrenching and the recovery years off, if it happens at all. Residents of Petit-Goâve, all of them quake victims who resettled in a plantain grove near a river, swam and climbed over tents and tombs in a nearby cemetery to escape the rising water. But Marie Helene Aristil lost her grip on her infant daughter, Juliana, whose lifeless body was found a mile away. “It should have taken me, too,” Ms. Aristil, 25, said softly. Jacqueline Sataille and her four children ignored warnings to evacuate their hillside hovel in Grand Goâve near here because they did not want to leave their possessions behind, friends said. Ms. Sataille and the children, ages 3 to 18, died when a section of the hill, denuded of trees, buried them. A friend, Dornelia Raton, who lost her corn and bean crops and resorted to feeding her children just coffee for the day, said nobody had claimed the bodies for a funeral. He looked to the heavens, humming a Creole gospel song with the refrain, “Jesus, this is my burden, please help me,” in answer to questions of how she would manage, with food as well as seed, fertilizer and other materials to replant her crops.
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The hurricane took aim largely at agriculture, a quarter of Haiti’s economy. After the quake in 2010, there were promises, never fully met, of revitalization — things like new irrigation ditches and canals, river dredging and reforestation. Though government officials have blamed unfulfilled aid pledges, international donors blame political uncertainty for the lack of progress. President Michel Martelly is on his second prime minister in a year and a half in office amid squabbles with Parliament. “Donors don’t contribute if there is no government,” said Myrta Kaulard, the country director of the United Nations World Food Program, one of the agencies rallying aid to help 20,000 families make it through the winter. The government estimates it will take $1.5 billion to modernize domestic agriculture and reverse decades of ill-conceived policies — including a reliance on cheap, subsidized American rice and Dominican poultry — that have left Haiti importing more than half of its food.
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Farming has never been easy here, despite rich soil, regular rain and blasting sunshine. There is little irrigation to control the water, roads are so shot that produce spoils or is damaged before it reaches urban markets, and a good crop could yield about $1,000 for the year. A number of initiatives have produced modest results in improving production and efficiency in farming, which 60 percent of Haitians, mostly tenant farmers on small plots, rely on to feed their families. But a report last month by Oxfam, an international aid agency, said there was no coordinated strategy to avert widespread crisis and neglect. “The government and the international community must put greater emphasis on coherent agricultural policies to revitalize production and create value to help Haitians get back on their feet and improve their living conditions,” Oxfam said. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said in an interview this month that the government would focus more on shorter-term goals like dredging riverbeds and repairing bridges and roads, and less on “big studies” that never seem to go anywhere. “We have limited means, and the devastation is huge,” he said, looking weary after having just received pictures of fresh flooding and casualties. “We are going to use this tragedy to invest in prevention.” The government, Mr. Lamothe said, was working on plans to provide farmers with cash assistance and seeds and to use locally grown products in emergency food kits, to support farms that can still produce. Economic distress in the countryside could undermine the government’s goal of halting migration to teeming big cities like Port-au-Prince, where severe overcrowding contributed to the high death toll in the earthquake. “We are a fragile state and can only do what we have the financial means for,” Mr. Lamothe said.
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But patience is wearing thin. There have been demonstrations in rural communities demanding more government help. In Fauché, a name that can mean penniless or a scythe, protesting farmers blocked the main coastal highway this month for a couple of hours, after food handouts quickly ran out and other promised relief never arrived. The devastation was pronounced, with trees snapped in half by winds and banana and plantain groves destroyed by rushing water. A 30-year-old man was missing, presumed swept into the sea, residents said. Several residents blamed deforested hilltops — the trees were cut to make charcoal to sell — for the avalanche of water. They sounded skeptical that much would be done and knew from experience of past floods that the silt smothering good soil would take years to overcome naturally. Brunel Casimir lost some of his plantain crop after Tropical Storm Isaac, but he had salvaged some saplings and had replanted them only to see Hurricane Sandy wipe out what had remained. Food prices at the roadside markets have already doubled this year; the $20 a week it costs now to feed his family of eight is out of reach. “At night I pray to God,” he said, “and ask what can I do?

11/18/2012
Miami Herald
By Jacqueline Charles
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Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, speaking to students and faculty at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, said Friday his government has decided to reduce its expenses by $30 million and invest the savings in disaster prevention for the environmentally ravaged country. “We will use that $30 million to clean up the canals of Cite Soleil for example, to dredge the bay of Port-au-Prince that hasn’t been cleaned, work on the drainage system,” he said. “When it rains, the water goes up and flood automatically.” In recent weeks, scores of Haitians have died throughout the barren country after rains triggered mudslides and flooding. The string of weather-related disasters has spiked a deadly cholera outbreak and created fears of a worsening food crisis.
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Haiti was now reporting 3,593 new cholera cases since Oct. 8, Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday at a news briefing in Geneva. As environmental conditions in Haiti deteriorate, future disasters will continue to disproportionally affect the country, including further loss of human life, property and livelihoods, the United Nations said. Hurricane Sandy, which brushed the country last month, had cause more people to be homeless in Haiti, where 370,000 people were still living in camps nearly three years after the January 2010 earthquake. Lamothe said the spending reductions will take effect as soon as President Michel Martelly, who is currently on a European tour, issues the presidential decree. The cuts include reducing foreign travel, downsizing on car purchases (ministers will be allowed to buy Toyota Prados, which are less expensive than Toyota Land Cruisers) and reductions in gasoline and ministry budgets. “We took some line items from the budget and we froze them,” Lamothe said. Both Lamothe and Martelly have come under fire by critics and some supporters for frequent travel, which include charter planes and helicopter, and large motorcades.
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Lamothe announced the austerity measures during a luncheon in his honor at St. Thomas University, where he graduated in 1999 with a Masters of Business Administration. He spent the day chatting with students attending the Catholic university’s Global Entrepreneurship Week activities. Later, he told a room of specially invited luncheon guests, including Catholic Archbishop of Greater Miami Thomas Wenski and American Airlines Vice President Art Torno, that things were changing in Haiti and “out of the challenges, we have opportunities.” The country, he said, was committed to creating a more business-friendly environment for investors to put Haitians to work. “Managing Haiti is good for a business graduate. You have to have the skills of constant emergency management,” he said to laughter. “So the challenge is to not let the emergency management derail you from the mid- to long-term management.” St. Thomas University President Franklyn Casale said the school, which works extensively with coffee farmers and artisans in Northwest Haiti, is “heavily involved in Haiti. We are proud of our involvement. We love the country. We love the people.” “He’s a great example of a success story of St. Thomas University,” Casale said of Lamoth

World Food Programme
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PORT-AU-PRINCE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that more than 1.5 million vulnerable people are at risk of continued food insecurity well into 2013, following a series of weather emergencies in the past six months: a drought, followed by tropical storm Isaac and hurricane Sandy. “At the moment, one of our biggest worries is in areas that are still isolated after hurricane Sandy, where women and children face worsening nutrition. At the same time, it is crucial to help Haitian farmers so that they can plant crops for the small December season and for the main agricultural season in the spring,” said Myrta Kaulard, WFP director in Haiti. WFP activities will focus on nutrition -- prevention and treatment of moderate acute malnutrition for 100,000 women and children -- as well as on “Cash For Assets” projects to provide an income to 170,000 vulnerable people working on rehabilitation and management of agricultural land, watershed management, flood control, gullies and irrigation systems, and rural roads. An estimated total of US $19 million will be needed for these programmes, to be carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP), partner NGOs, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
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Thanks to the support of donors, WFP has been able to maintain its logistical operation through its own fleet of trucks and build stocks of food and humanitarian material in WFP warehouses in the country, in coordination with the national Direction for Civil Protection (DPC). The emergency response to Hurricane Sandy was swift, with food distributions to 14,000 people carried out in the first week after it hit the country. In November, WFP will continue to assist 20,000 of the worst-affected households with almost 800 tons of food, including cereals purchased locally from small holder farmers. “Our donors’ support is crucial not only to ensure that we maintain our emergency response capacity in Haiti, but also to support rural people to get back on their feet quickly. Without immediate cash contributions, the situation of these rural households will continue deteriorating until the next main crop in mid-2013,” concluded Kaulard.

Inter-American Development Bank
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The Inter-American Development will provide Haiti’s government financial aid to start recovering from damage caused by the deadly rains and floods triggered by Hurricane Sandy. Haitian authorities met with IDB officials last week in Port-au-Prince and agreed to focus the assistance on rebuilding transport infrastructure, revitalizing agriculture and reinforcing river banks to mitigate flooding. The IDB expects to approve a $17.5 million grant before year-end to help the government finance the reconstruction of roads and bridges washed away by last month’s flooding and mudslides, particularly in southern Haiti. Resources from existing IDB-financed agriculture projects will be redirected to support government efforts to assist rural communities in the worst-hit areas. Authorities are currently assessing the needs for replanting lost crops and other urgent tasks. The government will also prioritize public works to reduce erosion and flooding in key watersheds. In addition, the IDB and the Haitian government reached agreements on new financing for 2013. The IDB expects to provide up to $200 million in grants for budget support and investment projects in agriculture, education, energy, transportation, water and sanitation and private sector development.

IFRC
By France Hurtubise
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Although the worst is behind them, the Haitian people are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Sandy. According to the government, the losses to agriculture - already hit by tropical storm Isaac - are estimated at over $100 millions US dollars. Rivers which flooded during the storm have taken away topsoil, fruit trees and cultures; eroded banks gave way, and protective walls were shattered; plantations of corn, beans, sorghum, pigeon peas, bananas, tubers, peanuts, vegetables and rice were entirely destroyed or badly damaged by wind and water. The government has confirmed that over 64,000 heads of livestock were washed out, adding that the drought that preceded Isaac had already caused huge losses, jeopardizing food security, which is now doubly endangered. Thousands of families have seen their homes destroyed, damaged or flooded. Following assessment by the Haiti Red Cross Societies and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), distributions were quickly organized. The shelter kits, blankets, pots and plastic sheets that were given to beneficiaries will mean that they will not only have something over their heads, but will be able to serve a hot meal to their families. During the past week, Haiti Red Cross Society volunteers have multiplied actions in the field. They are working on all fronts, providing mosquito nets, hygiene kits, jerry cans and water purification tablets, along with instructions on their use, so as to prevent the spread of cholera and other diseases originating from the consumption of contaminated water.
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Several teams had a psychosocial volunteer (PSP) for providing support to families who had lost everything. In the south, volunteers raised awareness among 4,000 families on the need to prepare and guard against natural catastrophes. Throughout the country, the organization is carrying out assessments and giving away flyers on the prevention of violence. In order to meet the needs in the mid-term, the IFRC has launched an emergency appeal for $2,316 million US dollars that will be used to support a one-year program aimed at 22 communes. The food supply component will provide food to 10,000 families. The food security component will help 66 associations (18 fishermen’s associations, 24 farmers associations and 24 women associations) through technical training, support during the spring agricultural cycle, advice on diet and nutrition, as well as the distribution of tools, seeds and livestock. Haiti is a small Caribbean country prone to extreme meteorological events. Through its risk reduction program, the Haiti Red Cross Society carries out multi-risk prevention campaigns. Chantal Pitaud, national coordinator for disaster management, said: “Over the coming weekend, a simulated catastrophic event will be staged in Cap Haitien, a northern city with a high-risk of earthquake and tsunami. In addition to distributing flyers and door-to-door awareness-raising, 1,500 students will be evacuated from their schools. All these actions will contribute to informing people on actions they can take to prevent and protect themselves.”

11/7/2012
UN Radio
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The World Food Programme (WFP) is appealing for more than $20 million to provide food for hundreds of thousands of Haitians affected by Hurricane Sandy. The agency says the impact of the hurricane and a recent drought is still being felt in the poor Caribbean country which suffered from an earthquake in 2010. Spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs says WFP is working with the government to help the people who have lost everything, including their homes, crops and livelihoods due to Hurricane Sandy. "The World Food Programme is now urgently needing and calling for more than $20 million to fund the food assistance for over 425,000 people in Haiti. It's an emergency food distribution operation. This includes special nutritional need of over 100,000 pregnant women and new mothers and also children under five." (Duration: 29") Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme says the government of Haiti needs $74 million for the country's farm sector to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

12/6/2012
Food and Agriculture Organization
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FAO and the Government of Haiti are seeking $74 million over the next 12 months to help rehabilitate the country's agricultural sector in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The "Superstorm" caused colossal damage to Haiti's crops, land, livestock, fisheries and rural infrastructures in late October, leaving more than 600 000 Haitians at risk of food and nutrition insecurity. Of the total funding sought, $4 million is needed immediately to help 20 000 families make it through the winter cropping season starting in December. Sandy hit Haiti on 23 October. Three consecutive days of intense winds and heavy rain caused severe flooding, damaging and destroying homes, farms and public infrastructure. It was the third disaster to hit the country in the space of a few months. Between May and June a severe drought struck at the beginning of the critical spring cropping season. In August Haiti was battered by Tropical Storms Isaac followed two months later by Sandy. The combined impact of these three disasters on the agricultural sector, has been estimated by the Government of Haiti at $254 million, affecting the livelihood of 1.5 million people.
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FAO, WFP and other partners are supporting the Government of Haiti in conducting a post-disaster assessment in order to present a full picture of the damage and needs for agriculture and food security and allow appropriate and significant response to recover from the crisis. Some places in the South, South East and Grand Anse zone are still largely isolated due to the massive destruction of road and other infrastructures. FAO, WFP, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and partners will conduct a helicopter survey of those areas. The Humanitarian Country Team in Haiti, the Donors' Group Supporting Haiti and the Government are currently discussing the next steps in responding to the crisis in the immediate, medium and long term, also addressing root causes of the country's vulnerability to recurrent natural disasters. "The recent natural disasters in Haiti requires the robust response of the international community to support ongoing Government efforts," said Adam Yao, FAO Senior Emergency Coordinator in Haiti. FAO provides support to the Government of Haiti with a variety of interventions in forestry, livestock production, seed production, watershed management and nutrition. These programmes can be scaled up and adapted to address needs following Hurricane Sandy in accordance with the government's plan.

US Department of State
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The U.S. Government is working in support of the Government of Haiti’s relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The storm affected the West Department and the southern peninsula, displacing people due to flooding and causing significant damage to agriculture. “The USG is doing everything possible to support the Government of Haiti in its heroic efforts to serve the Haitian people. Today, October 31st, I requested additional funds from Washington. We anticipate providing disaster assistance for agriculture, the sector hardest hit by Sandy in Southern Haiti,” stated U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Pamela White. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. relief supplies are being distributed to families in some of the areas most affected by Sandy. To date, USAID has distributed plastic sheeting to help approximately 10,000 people, family hygiene kits to help nearly 12,500 people, and an estimated 6,400 blankets. USAID has also provided items such as wheelbarrows and tools helpful for clean-up to displacement camps most affected by the hurricane. These relief and clean-up supplies were pre-positioned prior to hurricane season in key locations across Haiti, allowing for rapid distribution when needed. To help address serious food insecurity concerns, USAID is providing 50 metric tons of food to 9,250 people for a 15-day immediate emergency food provision to South Department and continues to discuss additional ways to assist with food insecurity with the Government of Haiti.
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Because increased cases of cholera remain a concern, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided 2,500 pints of Lactated Ringer’s solution, an intravenous solution for treating cholera, to Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population. The Government of Haiti’s Department of Civil Protection and Civil Protection Committee, as well as international relief agencies, continue to work together to assess the situation in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The United States will continue to support Haiti’s relief and recovery efforts in the weeks and months to come.

11/5/2012
IFRC
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For the second time this year, Haiti has been battered by hurricane winds and rain, leaving thousands of seeking shelter, local food supplies devastated and the risk of diseases such as cholera and malaria increasing. In response, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has launched an emergency appeal to support the vital work of the Haiti Red Cross Society. High above the land, Dr Guiteau Jean-Pierre, Executive Director of Haiti Red Cross Society, is trying to find his bearings. At this point along the coast, he knows they should have reached the river. Instead, he is looking at an expanse of mud creeping through a scattering of debris. Or maybe it is a lake, but one that does not show on any map. The helicopter pilot points to trees sticking out of the sludge. They trace the line the river used to follow; but the river, the land, the fields and their crops, and the homes as far as the eye can see, have been swamped by hurricane Sandy.
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In the chopper are staff from the Haiti Red Cross Society and the IFRC, one of the teams surveying the devastation in West, Nippes, South and Grande Anse provinces. By the end of the weekend, there have been 54 deaths, 20 people missing and 21 injuries. Moreover, 18,000 families have been devastated 6,790 people are being cared for in 66 emergency shelters. Today, the assessments move into new areas that have not been previously covered. Although there are basic needs and requirement that are common to every region, each has its own unique challenge. In Les Nippes, the major concerns are cholera and the loss of livelihoods. Harvesting was about to begin when the storm rolled through region, destroying banana and other fruit trees. The resulting damage is so extensive that 90-95 per cent of the local food supply is lost. In the South, the emergency assessment teams reported a lack of drinkable water and latrines, and the potential for a cholera outbreak. These were also recommended by the team that visited Jeremie, Les Irois and Dame Marie, while adding the need for mosquito nets, shelter toolkits, tarpaulins and seeds to put farmers back into their fields.
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Volunteers from the Red Cross are visiting the more vulnerable communities. Using megaphones, they are spreading hygiene messages - including the importance to wash hands and use treated water - wherever Sandy has been through. Louise-Marie Daniel, supervisor for promotion and hygiene with the Haiti Red Cross Society says prevention is essential. “Many areas were flooded, and the water is now contaminated,” she says. Messages stressing the need to wash hands and to treat water are also being broadcast through SMS, sound truck and interactive voice response system (telefon kwa wouj). Since the arrival of the hurricane, 1,228,228 SMS were sent via DIGICEL network and 286,140 via VOILA network; tweets reached 3,000 followers; and sound trucks visited 23 camps and 13 other communities. As well as hygiene messaging, the sound trucks and volunteers have also been talking about violence prevention. Given the poor quality of water and sanitation in the region, there is a potential risk of disease outbreaks such as malaria, cholera and diarrhea. As a result, in addition to increasing hygiene promotion sessions and activities linked with awareness raising on prevention of epidemics and control, there is a need to distribute hygiene kits, buckets, aquatabs, chlorine and soap to prevent the spread of waterborne disease, as well as oral rehydration solution for cholera treatment.
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Today’s preliminary emergency appeal for 2,162,206 Swiss francs (2,162,206 CHF/2,316,000 US dollars) will enable the Haiti Red Cross Society to assist 7,000 families for the next nine months. This appeal is being launched independently of the ongoing earthquake and recovery program.

11/4/2012
Miami Herald
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PETIT-GOÂVE, Haiti -- Before Sandy dumped more than 20 inches of rain on Haiti, rural towns like Petit-Goâve were relatively prosperous, their crops of banana, pigeon peas and yam helping feed the island-nation’s southern peninsula. The hillside farms and plantations were among those that had been mercifully spared from previous disasters and disease in a country struggling under the weight of a severe food crisis. Now, with ruined roads and crops destroyed throughout the country, international aid and Haitian authorities are worried about a worsening food crisis in a country still recovering from a year of drought, a weak economy and a previous storm. “Whatever was left of a potential harvest is gone,” said Johan Peleman, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs here. “Even the banana harvests seem to be gone.” On Sunday, Haiti’s government reiterated its appeal the international community for emergency humanitarian aid to deal with Sandy’s disaster. Five days earlier, the government declared an island-wide state of emergency, initially assessing losses to livestock, crops and infrastructure from Sandy at $104 million. The southern peninsula, which includes scores of rural communities, accounts for one-third of the losses, said Gary Mathieu, head of Haiti’s National Food Security Coordination unit. The south’s largest city, Les Cayes, is reporting a 70 percent loss of its avocado, breadfruit and corn harvests, washed away during four consecutive days of rain.
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The losses come just nine weeks after Tropical Storm Isaac pounded a nearby region, resulting in $70 million in damages and rising food prices. The one-two punch threatens to make the country’s poorest population even poorer. “Life will become even more expensive,” said Jeannita Constant, 29, staring at her field of fallen plantain trees as Sandy’s relentless rains fell here. “Lots and lots of money have been lost.” In the far northwest, farmers were only now preparing to replant after a drought earlier this year when Sandy’s downpour soaked their fields. “It takes a certain farmer with confidence to try and plant,” said Comete Rigaud, 40, a farmer in Cabaret, a depressed but bucolic village between Port-de-Paix and Jean-Rabel. “If it’s not the sun, it’s the rain.” Food insecurity woes are nothing new in Haiti, a place where high food prices in 2008 triggered rioting and the ouster of the prime minister. Months later, four back-to-back storms, led to children dying of malnutrition in a remote village in the southeast mountains.
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Haiti’s latest disaster comes amid recent anti-government protests over rising food costs, the country’s continuing struggle to dig out from the January 2010 earthquake and the world’s worst cholera epidemic. Ironically, Sandy hit two weeks ahead of a Haitian government conference on extreme poverty scheduled for Tuesday through Friday. The keynote speaker, World Bank President Jim Kim, will be making his first official visit to the region. Earlier this year, at the request of the government, the Bank provided help to farmers in the northeast after they lost peanut, plantain and other crops to pests and drought. Bank officials also remained concerned about the price hikes that ensued, including an inexplicable jump in the price of imported U.S. rice that did not match international price trends. Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, trying to calm mounting discontent over the hikes, stepped up free food distributions, announced a rice donation from Japan and launched a rice commission to address the growing food security concerns. He also announced the government was considering opening public food stores and food-storage, measures international experts warn have shown to be very inefficient and ineffective in helping consumers. “My concern is what the government will do as the situation does not seem to be as dire as in 2008 in terms of price levels,” said Diego Arias Carballo, a senior agricultural economist with the World Bank.
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Following the global food price hikes in 2008, Haiti introduced a rice subsidy program, which a World Bank study says benefited importers, and not consumers. “You need to have more of a targeted and efficient way of helping families with these types of crises and shocks,” Arias said. Sandy’s damage, combined with Isaac’s, the rising food costs and a drought that hit the northern regions of the country earlier this year, means up to two million Haitians are now at risk of malnutrition, the UN said Friday at a press briefing in Geneva. “These people will continue to struggle till the next large harvest in mid-2013,” said Myrta Kaulard, Haiti director for the UN World Food Program. “The struggle will be tough.” Kaulard said what Haiti and humanitarian aid groups need is cash; cash-for-work programs are needed to employ people in affected areas to rehabilitate the land; nutrition programs are needed for pregnant and nursing mothers and children younger than 5 — all now even more at risk; and school meals programs need to be maintained. “There are important resource gaps in all these programs,” she said, noting that funding shortfalls recently forced WFP to cut a number of schools from its meals program. Changes in Haiti’s rain pattern — dry spells and floods — affected food security in almost every region of the country, according to a complex analysis carried out by the government’s food security unit after Isaac. The effects are obvious along the 150-mile stretch between Port-au-Prince and the far northwest, the most neglected region of the country. Sorghum and corn fields have been abandoned by farmers and left to fallow; sun-burned rice stalks have been ruined by water shortages; and bean production is down everywhere, either because fields got too much water or not enough. In the southeast, Isaac wiped out banana, breadfruit and coffee crops. “You see us here? We’re going to die from hunger,” said Lisette Moise, 46, a mother of eight, sitting next to a sun-scorched rice paddy in the Artibonite River Valley, the country’s breadbasket. “We can’t send our children to school, we can’t do anything.” Moise and other rice farmers say this year’s weather skyrocketed prices. “Even if you could afford to buy the cup of beans, you can’t afford the cooking oil,” said farmer Odette Casseus, standing nearby. “Some days you just feeling like screaming to God, given the devastating state you are in.”

Haiti sees small rise in cholera cases after Sandy
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11/2/2012
By TRENTON DANIEL
Associated Press
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The Haitian capital saw a small increase in the number of people infected by cholera after last week's destructive rains from Hurricane Sandy, an international medical group said Friday. Doctors Without Borders said the group's five cholera treatment centers had at least 457 patients Monday. There were 500 patients Tuesday. Spokesman Mathieu Fortoul said the number of cholera patients had since dropped, with the group's clinics having about 430 patients Friday. The increase in cases was anticipated. Cholera spreads through water, and Haiti has seen a spike in the number of cases following periods of heavy rainfall. The country is vulnerable in large part because it doesn't have proper sanitation and sewage systems. Cholera, an intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera, has sickened more than 600,000 people and killed more than 7,500 others in Haiti since it surfaced several months after the devastating 2010 earthquake, health officials say. Many people have attributed the disease's introduction to a unit of U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal, where the disease is endemic.
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Haiti was spared a direct hit from Hurricane Sandy when it passed to the west the night of Oct. 24, but heavy rain in the storm's outer bands pounded the south and capital for several days. Officials say at least 54 people died, more than any other Caribbean country. The storm also destroyed 70 percent of the crops in southern Haiti and caused widespread deaths of livestock, authorities say. The rainfall compounded the misery for the some 370,000 people still living in flimsy shelters as a result of the earthquake.

Food insecurity major concern after Hurricane Sandy strikes Haiti – UN official
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11/2/2012
UN News Service
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A senior United Nations humanitarian official said today that over a million people in Haiti are facing food insecurity as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, which ploughed through the Caribbean nation before wreaking havoc along the east coast of the United States earlier this week. The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) operation in Haiti, Johan Peleman, said that relief workers are still consolidating data of the destruction caused by the storm and a full picture of the situation will take some time. Meanwhile, he noted, between 15,000 and 20,000 people have seen their houses completely destroyed, damaged or flooded as a result of the storm. OCHA is particularly concerned because Haiti had been hit by a long period of drought this year as well as by another hurricane, Isaac, which hit the impoverished country in August. “Now with this new tropical storm, we fear that a great deal of the harvest which was ongoing in the south of the country may have been destroyed completely,” Mr. Peleman said in an interview with UN Radio.
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“Already, the drought and the previous storm had hit the northern part of the country very badly and we had seen the levels of food insecurity rise there,” he added. “With the south being hit now, we are going to face in the next couple of months very serious problems of malnutrition and food insecurity.” There are approximately 1.2 million people who are facing food insecurity in the country, which is already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and is still recovering from a devastating earthquake in January 2010. Mr. Peleman noted that there are still 350,000 people living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of the earthquake and the effect of Hurricane Sandy on this group was a major concern. “The most vulnerable IDPs that were living in camps have been evacuated before the storm and we are now, with the humanitarian community and the UN family, repairing tents, handing out new tarpaulins so that they can go back to live in more favourable conditions because a lot of light structures were obviously completely destroyed by the storm,” he stated.
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Access is also a concern since a number of roads have been rendered unusable due to the hurricane, making it more difficult to reach those in need, Mr. Peleman added. In addition, water holes and sanitation systems will need to be drained as quickly as possible, given the fear of an outbreak of water-borne diseases, specifically cholera. The disease is still endemic in the country and he expected to now see a surge in the cases of cholera. Preparations were taken ahead of Hurricane Sandy, in partnership with the Haitian authorities and with the support of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MINUSTAH), Mr. Peleman noted, including contingency planning and the pre-deployment of food stocks, tents, tarpaulins, medical kits and hygiene kits. “The country is relatively well prepared but it is also very vulnerable to this type of disaster, not just because of the poverty but because of decades of deforestation and erosion,” he noted. In addition, MINUSTAH is also supporting Government efforts to deal with the hurricane’s aftermath, responding to requests to help with logistics and engineering, such as the clearing of roads. Hurricane Sandy also caused deaths, damage and destruction along the east coast of the US, including in New York where the UN is headquartered. The world body’s offices were closed for an unprecedented three days straight, with most meetings cancelled, and re-opened today.

OCHA estimates 1.8 million Haitians have been affected by Hurricane Sandy
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11/2/2012
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Some 1.8 million Haitians have been affected by Hurricane Sandy, the United Nations relief agency said today after its first assessment of the situation in the region, adding that food security remains an urgent concern in the Caribbean nation. Initial data collected by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed Hurricane Sandy, which ploughed through the Caribbean country before hitting the eastern coast of the United States, killed 60 people and significantly damaged critical infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals in addition to destroying thousands of homes. “Floodwater had been receding since Sunday but more than 18,000 homes have been flooded, damaged or destroyed,” an OCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke, told reporters in Geneva, adding that food security remains a main concern as the country is now struggling with the combined impact of hurricanes Sandy and Isaac, which hit in August, as well as drought. Preliminary data estimated that food security had been severely affected, Mr. Laerke said, with up to two million people at risk of malnutrition.
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In addition to food insecurity, OCHA said it is concerned about the nearly 350,000 people that are still living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of a devastating earthquake which hit the country in January 2010. Mr. Laerke noted that while most vulnerable IDPs in camps that had been evacuated before the storm have returned home, some 1,500 people remain in 15 hurricane shelters. Because of the impact of the hurricane, OCHA said it is now considering an emergency revision of the Consolidated Appeal (CAP) to accommodate increased needs. During the same briefing, a spokesperson for the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported that access to health services and restocking supplies was limited as rivers had become impassable and roads had been obstructed. It also warned that poor sanitary conditions could increase the risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera, which is still endemic in the country. The WHO spokesperson said there has already been an increase in cholera alerts, especially in the south, and added that field teams are monitoring the situation closely. WHO is also working with the Government in the area to ensure that health supplies could be delivered to treatment centres that had been damaged by strong winds and flooding, he added. Cuba was also severely affected by the hurricane, OCHA’s Mr. Laemke said, with power cuts affecting more than 890,000 people and nearly 200,000 homes damaged by the storm. In addition, 375 health centres and several hospitals were damaged, as were 2,100 schools. Crops have been damaged and remote communities are cut off because of road and bridge damage. UN humanitarian agencies are working closely with national and local authorities, donors and emergency organizations to support national efforts. An emergency cash grant of $100,000 has been approved and a request for the UN Central Emergency Response Fund is under preparation. Launched in 2006 and managed by OCHA, CERF enables the fast delivery of life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters and other crises worldwide. It is funded by voluntary contributions from Member States, non-governmental organizations, regional governments, the private sector and individual donors.

Haiti could see the deadliest effects of Sandy as food dwindles and cholera spikes
10/31/2012
Carribean 360
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As if the mud, misery, loss of life and homelessness in Hurricane Sandy’s wake weren’t bad enough, the worst may yet be to come for disaster-ravaged Haiti. Massive crop damage throughout the southern third of the country, as well as the likelihood of a spike in cases of cholera and other water-borne diseases, could mean that the impoverished country will experience the deadliest effects of the storm’s havoc in the days and weeks ahead. Sandy claimed the most lives in the Caribbean in Haiti, as swollen rivers and landslides resulted in a death toll of at least 52 persons, according to the country's Civil Protection office. Over three days of continuous rain left roads and bridges heavily damaged, cutting off access to several towns and a key border crossing with the Dominican Republic, moreover. According to Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, "the economy took a huge hit" and the hurricane’s impact was devastating, "even by international standards". He added that Haiti was planning an appeal for emergency aid. "Most of the agricultural crops that were left from Hurricane Isaac were destroyed during Sandy," Lamothe said, "so food security will be an issue." The widespread loss of crops and supplies in the south, both for commercial growers and subsistence farmers, is a source of grave concern. A series of nationwide protests and general strikes over the rising cost of living rocked the country even before Hurricane Sandy hit, and Jean Debalio Jean-Jacques, the Ministry of Agriculture's director for the southern department, said he worried that the massive crop loss "could aggravate the situation." "The storm took everything away," he said. "Everything the peasants had in reserve - corn, tubers - all of it was devastated. Some people had already prepared their fields for winter crops and those were devastated." On Haiti's south-western tip, the Abricots community was still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Tomas and a recent dry spell when Sandy struck. "We'll have famine in the coming days," said Abricots Mayor Kechner Toussaint. "It's an agricultural disaster." The main staples of the local diet, bananas and breadfruit, were ripped out by winds and ruined by heavy rains.
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In Camp-Perrin, a mountainous region in the southwest peninsula, coffee planters lamented the loss of a harvest they were weeks away from collecting. "Coffee is the bank account of the peasants," said Maurice Jean-Louis, a planter and head of a coffee growers' cooperative in Camp-Perrin. Rain flooded many storage areas as well, soaking coffee beans that were set aside for export. He called the damage "incalculable." In Port-au-Prince, Sandy destroyed concrete homes and tent camps alike, where 370,000 victims of the 2010 earthquake are still living. Authorities said 18,000 families were left homeless in the disaster. Adding to the despair, a sharp rise in suspected cholera cases has been reported by aid organizations in several departments. At least 86 new cases have come from Port-au-Prince's earthquake survivor camps alone, according to Dr. Juan Carlos Gustavo Alonso of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Many communities are still cut off and only accessible by helicopter, he said, so the broader rise in cholera was "still too early to tell." Cholera has sickened almost 600,000 people and killed more than 7,400 since October 2010 in Haiti. The state and international aid organizations have been distributing food, water and other items to affected camps and communities, including personal distributions by President Michel Martelly. "These stocks are running dangerously low," said George Ngwa, spokesman for OCHA, a humanitarian coordinating body in Haiti. "After Tropical Storm Isaac in August, these stocks have not been replenished. What we're doing is scraping the bottom."

Haiti, struck by megastorm Sandy, asks for aid
11/2/2012
AFP
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As much of the world focuses on the storm-devastated northeastern United States, tiny impoverished Haiti, also dealt a powerful blow by Hurricane Sandy, is appealing for international aid. The storm, a powerful category two hurricane when it tore through Haiti last Thursday, killed more than 50 people there. It destroyed crops and homes and crippled transportation in the nation, the poorest in the Americas. "I am launching an appeal to international solidarity to come help the population, to help support the completion of our efforts towards saving lives and property," Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said Wednesday evening during a cabinet meeting rebroadcast on local media. According to statistics presented during the meeting, the agricultural sector registered a loss of more than $104 million. "Several thousand kilometers of agricultural roads were destroyed and thousands of heads of cattle were swept away by the flood waters, which also destroyed thousands of hectares of plantations," Agriculture Minister Jacques Thomas said.
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Health Minister Florence Guillaume said "numerous cases" of cholera have also been reported in the wake of the storm. "What we've just heard is frightening. We should act quickly for the people and put ourselves to work to improve the situation," Lamothe said. "Without a doubt we don't have enough means, but we must show we have the will," he added, reiterating his call for international support. On Thursday, the government communication bureau indicated that Venezuela has proposed building 5,000 homes and had already sent three planes and a boat loaded with 240 tonnes of food. France has promised to rebuild seven destroyed bridges and Mexico has offered food. Haiti is still rebuilding after the massive 2010 earthquake that leveled much of the capital, left hundreds of thousands homeless and killed more than 200,000 people.

Haiti shows importance of dealing with dead bodies when disaster strikes
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Guardian Development Network
11/1/2012
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Dead body management (pdf) is a key element of disaster response: how corpses are dealt with can have a profound impact and long-lasting effect on the mental health of survivors and communities, say experts. "Their proper management is a core component of disaster response, together with the rescue and care of survivors and the provision of essential services," said Morris Tidball-Binz, a forensic adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. Large-scale natural disasters may result in many tens of thousands of deaths, which can overwhelm local systems, and the absence of mass fatality planning can result in the mismanagement of dead bodies. In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which killed more than 200,000 people, lack of co-ordination resulted in corpses being piled up outside morgues and hospitals, while thousands were buried unidentified in mass graves. But there are also misconceptions about the management of dead bodies. Despite popular belief, cadavers resulting from a disaster do not spread disease. According to the latest guidelines from the Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), there is no evidence that corpses result in epidemics, as victims of natural disasters generally die from trauma, drowning or fire – not infectious diseases such as cholera, typhoid, malaria or plague. Certain infectious diseases, like tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and diarrhoeal diseases, last for up to two days in a dead body. HIV may survive for up to six days. All these infections pose only a slight risk of contamination, say the guidelines. "There is no existing evidence that dead bodies pose a significant public health risk for disease outbreaks," said Kouadio Koffi Isidore, a researcher at the UN University International Institute for Global Health in Kuala Lumpur. "Any source of disease transmission will merely be among the affected disaster survivors," he added. While there is a potential risk of diarrhoea from drinking water contaminated by faecal material from dead bodies, routine disinfection of drinking water is sufficient to prevent waterborne diseases, experts say.
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Nevertheless, death as a result of infectious diseases like cholera, typhus or plague may represent a health risk requiring appropriate disposal of corpses. Isidore said: "Certain precautions should be taken when disposing [of] corpses immediately after death, especially in a context of infectious diseases outbreak." PAHO/WHO guidelines recommend disinfection with chlorine solution rather than lime powder, which is commonly used but which has a limited effect on pathogens.
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There is a need to raise awareness among communities on the risk of infection from practices such as the washing and shrouding of a dead body (an obligatory duty for Muslims), as well as large gatherings during funerals. According to the PAHO/WHO guidelines, the empowerment and training of local communities is a major part of the management of cadavers, as local residents are typically the first to arrive to help rescuers. The psychological aspect is extremely important. Proper and dignified management of the dead can help ease the trauma of losing loved ones. Rapid retrieval of corpses should be a priority: it aids identification and reduces the stress on survivors. Another challenge is that the sight and smell of dead bodies can often distress survivors. An important element is adequate training of body recovery teams to mitigate stress among team members. According to the Asian Disaster Preparedeness Centre (ADPC), in the aftermath of a disaster, this is key in addressing the psychological trauma of losing a loved one (pdf) and witnessing death on a large scale. "Priority should be placed on helping people recreate social networks to avoid isolation, and to give people an appropriate opportunity to mourn," International Medical Corps child psychiatrist Lynne Jones told IRIN in an earlier interview.
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Religious and community leaders can play a major role in helping relatives to better understand and accept the recovery and management of dead bodies, ADPC guidelines say. Local communities should be encouraged to carry out traditional ceremonies and grieving processes, and observe whatever cultural and religious events they normally practice. "If deaths are not dignified – that is, lacking proper burials or mourning ceremonies – this denies people the means to accept and come to terms with their loss," Jones told IRIN after the Haiti earthquake. Under international best practice Sphere standards, corpses should be disposed of in a manner that is dignified, culturally appropriate and based on good public health practices. Rapid cremations, the use of bulldozers to gather dead bodies, or the lack of a place in which to bury a corpse can cause a lot of stress. Sphere standards require graveyards to be at least 30 metres from groundwater sources used for drinking water, with the bottom of any grave at least 1.5 metres above the groundwater table; surface water from graveyards must not enter inhabited areas. ICRC advises that the cremation of unidentified bodies should be avoided since there are no health advantages. Burials are preferred in emergencies, unless there are religious or cultural reasons for another course of action. Moreover, cremation can destroy evidence needed for future identification, requires large amounts of fuel that can result in smoke pollution and can cause logistical problems for recovery teams having to deal with a large number of corpses.

After Sandy: Presumed Cholera Claims Three Lives as IOM Supports Haiti’s Directorate of Civil Protection to Return All Evacuees – The exceptional rainfall brought by Hurricane Sandy over Haiti caused floods that are now being blamed for a surge in presumed cholera cases and the death of three people in the city of Gonaives. Of the 277 suspected cholera cases reported thus far, 117 are in the capital Port-au-Prince.
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“To date, we have distributed cholera prevention kits packed with chlorine, oral rehydration salts and water purification Aquatabs to 6,177 families in 25 priority camps. We have also conducted mass awareness sessions on cholera prevention in camps in and around Port-au-Prince,” says IOM Haiti Health Unit programme manager Kristin Parco. IOM is also working with Haitian authorities and its UN and NGO partners to carry out post-storm field assessments in the most affected departments of South, South East, Nippes, Grand Anse and West. “Once the results of these evaluations are received, the response plans will be coordinated with all partners,” said Gregoire Goodstein, IOM Chief of Mission in Haiti. IOM Health and Disaster Risk Reduction teams are providing support to the mayors of Croix des Bouquets, Tabarre, and Cite Soleil with storm and cholera-related interventions. IOM field offices in Cap Haitien, Gonaives, Jacmel, Leogane and Les Cayes are standing by to assist the local authorities. “The situation is particularly serious; there are major needs in terms of food due to crops destroyed, first by Hurricane Isaac and now Sandy. There has been considerable damage to houses, creating more displacement and compounding the housing problem that has existed since the earthquake of January 2010. Recovery needs may now be larger than initially foreseen. This will become clearer as more in-depth assessments are carried out under the leadership and coordination of the government of Haiti,” added Goodstein. Immediately after the passage of Hurricane Sandy, IOM provided support to the Directorate of Civil Protection to return the 1,250 people evacuated ahead of the storm from 11 camps considered at high risk of flooding. Despite these and other preventive measures, Sandy left a death toll of 54, with 15 still missing and 18 injured.
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IOM also distributed 15,501 storm‐related non-food relief items, in various locations including Port-au- Prince, Les Cayes, Jacmel and Gonaives.
The response was funded by contributions from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO.) For more information please contact Michela Macchiavello at IOM Haiti, Tel: +509. 37731958 - Email: mmacchiavello@iom.int
Or visit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hL5QABRq9M&feature=g-user-u
http://www.facebook.com/IOMHaiti
https://twitter.com/IOMHaiti
http://www.flickr.com/photos/haitilense2010/sets/72157631847114406/

Images of Sandy’s Destruction
10/31/2012
Associated Press
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The death toll in the Caribbean from Hurricane Sandy rose on Wednesday and estimates of damage and destruction it caused grew larger as more complete assessments emerged from throughout the region. Two new deaths were recorded in Haiti, bringing the total for the country to 54, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of the country’s Civil Protection agency. That means the toll for the Caribbean as a whole is now 71. Haitian authorities were able to revise the death toll as rivers recede, allowing officials to travel through the storm-drenched southern peninsula. The death toll had been 52. Jean-Baptiste said Wednesday that one of the new deaths occurred during a mudslide and the other was a person who drowned trying to cross a rain-swollen river. There are still 21 people unaccounted for after the storm. Hurricane Sandy drenched the country’s south with more than 20 inches (500 millimeters) of rain in 24 hours. President Michel Martelly has declared a monthlong state of emergency.
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In the Bahamas, the total cost of damage to private property and public infrastructure is expected to reach as high as $300 million, according to a report from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, a risk pool for 16 governments in the Caribbean. That total would be higher than last year’s Hurricane Irene, which caused about $250 million in damage to the island chain east of Florida. The damage estimates do not include tourism losses, which are expected to be significant in the case of Sandy. Minister of Tourism Obediah Wilchcombe has said the country experienced thousands of cancellations some resorts were forced to compensate people who were stranded by the storm. In Cuba, the government raised the number of homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy from 130,000 to 200,000. State phone company Etecsa reported that some 1,400 telephone poles were knocked down by the storm, which blew across eastern Cuba. Phones and electricity were gradually being restored with the help of workers brought in from other regions.

Yet Another Blow to Haiti From a Natural Disaster
10/29/2012
By ELISABETH MALKIN
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MEXICO CITY — At the edge of disaster, a few days of rain can be lethal. On Monday, the scale of damage in Haiti from Hurricane Sandy became evident. Even though the storm’s center skirted the country, more than 20 inches of rain fell on Haiti’s south and southwest over four days last week, causing at least 52 deaths, tearing out crops and destroying houses. “We are facing a major crisis,” Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said this weekend after he flew over the regions that had been hit by the storm. The government said that the homes of as many as 200,000 people had been damaged — on top of almost 400,000 people still homeless from the January 2010 earthquake. “We have a lot of work ahead of us in terms of the aid that we will need to deliver in the days, weeks and months to come,” Mr. Lamothe said. “It won’t be easy because there are many roads and bridges that have been cut off.” Coming on the heels of Tropical Storm Isaac in August, the latest storm has piled new misfortune on Haiti, as it struggles to recover from the earthquake and the cholera epidemic that broke out 10 months later, which has killed thousands and sickened more than half a million people. “You get so set back by each storm, it gets hard to keep the forward momentum,” said Deborah Jenson, the director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Duke University. Ms. Jenson was talking about the efforts to reverse Haiti’s dramatic level of deforestation, which magnifies the effects of storms, turning rainfall into destructive torrents rushing down denuded hillsides. Haitians use the Creole expression “Lapli ap tonbe,” which means “the rain is falling,” to say things are not going well, she said.
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But in describing the setbacks to growing new trees, she could as easily have been talking about the crisscrossing efforts to rebuild the poorest country in the Americas and provide its people with even the most basic elements of decent living conditions. Disasters can generate creative solutions, Ms. Jenson said. But in Haiti, “so much of the infrastructure that would be in place to make innovations are damaged,” she said. Mr. Lamothe made a similar point as he spoke to local reporters this weekend. The country has to invest to build levees and dredge rivers and bays to stop each heavy rainfall from becoming calamitous, he said. “Big decisions will be taken,” he promised, “because the state cannot continually be on the defensive every time it rains or there is a flood. We have to invest in prevention.” The greatest immediate concern is to prevent a new spike in cholera cases, said France Hurtubise, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Port-au-Prince, on Monday. The Red Cross has begun distributing hygiene kits and water purification tablets. An estimated 390,000 people are still homeless from the earthquake despite billions of dollars that were pledged in international aid. “There are still a lot of people in tents,” Ms. Hurtubise said. “Every time there is a disaster, they are hurt the worst.” And with so many crops destroyed, including plantain, maize and sugar cane, authorities are also concerned about food supplies in coming months. “We’ll have famine in the coming days,” Kechner Toussaint, the mayor of Abricots, on Haiti’s southwestern tip, told Reuters. “It’s an agricultural disaster.” Still, despite the catalog of woes, there are small signs of improvement. Ms. Hurtubise said that Hurricane Sandy would most likely have caused more deaths without some of the simple measures that the Red Cross has recently put in place, like sending out mass text messages and setting up hot lines. And at the broader level, Ms. Jenson said, the government is attempting to wean itself from international aid, a transition she called “very difficult.”

As torrential rains from Hurricane Sandy enter their fifth day, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in Haiti is continuing to respond to humanitarian needs brought by the deluge. And with roads across much of the south of the country impassable, the Red Cross is preparing to conduct assessments of the worst affected areas by air. “The rains have not let up for four days and the forecast is for more, rivers have burst their banks, bridges are down and entire communities are flooded, the situation for people caught in this is terrible,” said Dr Jean Pierre Guiteau, Executive Director of the Haitian Red Cross. “We are using all the resources we have available, so we are travelling by road where we can but that is not always possible. The only way to get to some areas and see the full extent of the flooding is by helicopter, so to make sure we can reach those who need help that is the option we have to take.” Taking advantage of a break in the weather on Saturday morning, Red Cross assessment teams are heading west from Port-au-Prince by car to establish the extent of damage and needs in the worst affected areas of West, Nippes, South and Grande Anse provinces.
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With large areas of the south of the country under water, there are fears that the flooding will trigger another significant rise in cholera cases. The Red Cross has stockpiles positioned in Haiti capable of meeting the needs of up to 11,000 families, and across the country teams from the Haitian Red Cross (HRC) and other Red Cross national societies working in Haiti have been monitoring the situation and providing reports throughout four days and nights of solid rain. As well as responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, leading up to and throughout the duration of the storm the Red Cross has been helping people prepare for and withstand the effects of the weather. Working in partnership with Digicel, more than a million SMS have been sent warning people of the coming storm, providing guidance on how to stay safe, and encouraging people to listen to the media for updates and call the free 733 Telefon Kwa Wouj line for more detailed disaster preparedness information. At the same time, the Red Cross sound truck has visited some of the most vulnerable sites in and around Port-au-Prince to ensure the storm warnings and preparedness information reaches those who need it most. Helping those for whom it was simply too dangerous to stay where they were, the HRC has been working alongside Haitian government agencies and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), to evacuate more than 1,100 families from 12 of the most at-risk camps in the capital.
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Families have been evacuated to six emergency shelters which the HRC is helping to manage, while 38 Haitian Red Cross psycho-social support volunteers are also in attendance to help meet the practical and emotional needs of evacuees. “Led by the Haitian Red Cross, right now all the components of the Red Cross Movement in Haiti are working together, focussed on responding to this storm and the flooding it has brought,” said Alex Claudon, country director for the International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent (IFRC) in Haiti. “Much has already been achieved to prepare and evacuate people, but we know there is still a lot to be done, there are a lot of people still at risk and we will keep going until this threat has past.”
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For additional information, please contact : France Hurtubise +509 3170 9813
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The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 mil¬lion people each year through its 186 member National Societies. Together, the IFRC acts before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. It does so with impartiality as to nationality, race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political opinions. For more information, please visit www.ifrc.org. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr

With torrential rains from Hurricane Sandy pounding Haiti since Tuesday evening, IOM, in support of the Haitian Government and Red Cross, has managed to evacuate 1,250 of the most vulnerable persons living in 12 camps identified as most at risk for flooding in the capital Port-au-Prince were evacuated to six shelters in various parts of the city. Early in the week, IOM teams were deployed to all camps targeted for evacuation to prepare the most vulnerable for the storm, including preparations for a potential evacuation. IOM Haiti conducted sensitization campaigns in 176 camps for the internally displaced before the storm. IOM was fully mobilized and present in vulnerable IDPs camps and evacuation centers, with a particular focus on provided for health and protection needs. During the evacuations, the IOM health team identified a total of 343 vulnerable health cases, including pregnant and lactating mothers, children under five, elderly persons and handicapped individuals. “This is a large scale operation that needs a rapid and coordinated effort from the international community and the local authorities. It is reassuring to know that we have moved more than one thousand very vulnerable individuals to safety. However, Haiti still has a total of 370,000 people living in precarious conditions in 541 camps scattered all over the country. The hurricane season is not finished and so the danger remains, despite well-coordinated emergency operations,” said Gregoire Goodstein, IOM Chief of Mission in Haiti.
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The evacuation operations were conducted in support of the Department for Civil Protection of the Haitian Government, the Haitian Red Cross, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the National Water and Sanitation Authority, with food assistance provided by the UN World Food Programme “This emergency is yet another reminder of the urgent need to further equip and build the capacity of Haitian institutions and partners engaged in disaster and risk reduction and to increase the number of readily available shelters that meet international standards. We applaud current efforts of the Haitian Government, which so far have provided relocation assistance to 44,000 persons, but more resources need to be allocated so that mitigation work can continue,” concluded Goodstein. On Thursday 25 October, heavy rains and strong winds continue to batter the cities of Jacmel (South West), Leogane (South), and Les Cayes (South East). The Government of Haiti is maintaining its red alert (highest level), as continuing rains are expected over the next day or two. IOM will remain ready to support the Haitian government and population should the situation deteriorate. IOM works closely with Haitian authorities and with vulnerable populations, to help them prepare for potential disasters such as Tropical Storm Isaac in August 2012, as well as Hurricane Sandy.

10/29/2012
Reuters
By Susana Ferreira
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As Hurricane Sandy barreled toward the U.S. East Coast on Monday, the full extent of the storm's havoc on Haiti was just beginning to emerge. Extensive damage to crops throughout the southern third of the country, as well as the high potential for a spike in cases of cholera and other water-borne diseases, could mean Haiti will see the deadliest effects of Sandy in the coming days and weeks. Haiti reported the highest death toll in the Caribbean, as swollen rivers and landslides claimed at least 52 lives, according to the country's Civil Protection office. More than three days of constant rain left roads and bridges heavily damaged, cutting off access to several towns and a key border crossing with the Dominican Republic. "The economy took a huge hit," Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told Reuters. He also said Sandy's impact was devastating, "even by international standards," adding that Haiti was planning an appeal for emergency aid. "Most of the agricultural crops that were left from Hurricane Isaac were destroyed during Sandy," he said, "so food security will be an issue." Sandy also destroyed banana crops in eastern Jamaica as well as decimating the coffee crop in eastern Cuba. But the widespread loss of crops and supplies in the south, both for commercial growers and subsistence farmers, is what has Haitian authorities and aid organizations had worried about most. The past several months have seen a series of nationwide protests and general strikes over the rising cost of living. Even before Hurricane Sandy hit, residents complained that food prices were too high.
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A rise in food prices in Haiti triggered violent demonstrations and political instability in April 2008. Jean Debalio Jean-Jacques, the Ministry of Agriculture's director for the southern department, said he worried that the massive crop loss "could aggravate the situation." "The storm took everything away," said Jean-Jacques. "Everything the peasants had in reserve - corn, tubers - all of it was devastated. Some people had already prepared their fields for winter crops and those were devastated." In Abricots on Haiti's southwestern tip, the community was still recovering from the effects of 2010's Hurricane Tomas and a recent dry spell when Sandy hit. "We'll have famine in the coming days," said Abricots Mayor Kechner Toussaint. "It's an agricultural disaster." The main staples of the local diet, bananas and breadfruit, were ripped out by winds and ruined by heavy rains.
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In the southwestern Grand Anse department, a boat that regularly comes from Port-au-Prince to deliver supplies and pick up produce to sell in the capital had not come in more than a week because of the storm. The cost of basic things, like fuel, had already jumped. In Camp-Perrin, a mountainous region in the southwest peninsula where Sandy's first fatality was recorded after a woman tried to cross a swollen river, coffee planters lamented the loss of a harvest they were weeks away from collecting. "Coffee is the bank account of the peasants," said Maurice Jean-Louis, a planter and head of a coffee growers' cooperative in Camp-Perrin. Rain flooded many storage areas as well, soaking coffee beans that were set aside for export. He called the damage "incalculable."
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In the capital, Port-au-Prince, Sandy destroyed concrete homes and tent camps alike, where 370,000 victims of the 2010 earthquake are still living. Haitian authorities said 18,000 families were left homeless in the disaster. Aid organizations began reporting a sharp rise in suspected cholera cases in several departments, with at least 86 new cases alone coming from Port-au-Prince's earthquake survivor camps, according to Dr. Juan Carlos Gustavo Alonso of the Pan American Health Organization. Many communities are still cut off and only accessible by helicopter, he said, so the broader rise in cholera was "still too early to tell." Since October 2010, a cholera outbreak has sickened almost 600,000 people and killed more than 7,400 in Haiti.
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Both the Haitian state and international aid organizations distributed food, water and other items to affected camps and communities throughout the weekend, including personal distributions by President Michel Martelly. "These stocks are running dangerously low," said George Ngwa, spokesman for OCHA, a humanitarian coordinating body in Haiti. "After Tropical Storm Isaac in August, these stocks have not been replenished. What we're doing is scraping the bottom." (Editing by David Adams, desking by G Crosse)

The Guardian
By Jonathan Watts
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As the United States braced for hurricane Sandy, the Caribbean nations that have already faced its fury were burying the dead, finding shelter for the homeless and counting the economic cost of the fiercest winds and rain that many have seen in a decade. At least 69 people have died in six countries since the end of last week as Sandy ripped its way northwards with gusts in excess of 110mph and downpours that engulfed homes, crops and roads. Hardest hit is Haiti. Although not directly in the path of the hurricane, the poorest nation in the Americas has confirmed 52 dead and at least a dozen more missing as flimsy buildings were engulfed in mudslides or swept out to sea by flood tides. A worse humanitarian disaster could follow. According to the government in Port-au-Prince, about 200,000 people are homeless, though emergency shelter has only been provided for 17,000. In addition to the short-term fears of cholera and other water-borne disease, the prime minister, Laurent Lamothe warned of food shortages because crops have been badly damaged. "The economy took a huge hit," Lamothe told Reuters as he revealed plans to appeal to the international community for emergency aid.
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Cuba is also picking up the pieces after extensive loss of life and economic impacts. The Communist party newspaper Granma reported 11 dead and damage to 137,000 homes. It said recovery would take years. The greatest devastation appears to be in Santiago, where schools, hospitals, homes and churches were damaged. In the city, the stained glass windows of the cathedral were shattered, the zinc roofs of shanty town communities were seen floating away and many areas were still without power and running water on Monday. In the fields, between a fifth and a third of Cuba's coffee crop has been decimated at a time that ought to be the peak of the harvest season. "We can say that we have had a great hurricane in the east and a small 'Flora' [the name of a destructive 1964 hurricane\ in the centre of the country," President Raul Castro said on a visit to the affected provinces, according to the state-run National Information Agency. Smaller scale fatalities and damage were also reported in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, where sea waters surged over coastal barriers to deluge roads and buildings. Venezuela has been among the first to respond to the calls for assistance, providing food, drinking water and equipment to Haiti and Cuba.

Brian Concannon via Nicole Phillips Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Concannon said today: “Hurricane Sandy will kill many times more people in Haiti than everywhere else combined, despite barely touching the country with tropical storm-strength winds. Sandy shows that Haiti’s real disaster is decades of policies by Haitian governments and the international community that leave the government unable to provide the basic services necessary to reduce its citizens’ vulnerability to natural stress.”
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ALEXIS ERKERT, [in Haiti] [email] [speaks English, French, Kreyol], @aerkert Erkert works with the women-driven collaborative Other Worlds and is also involved in the Under Tents international campaign. She said today: “In Haiti, entire cities flooded in the south, homes and crops were damaged, bridges and roads washed out, and 65 people lost their lives. In Port-au-Prince, the 370,000 in displacement camps — still living under shredding tents and tarps almost three years after the Haiti earthquake — spent four consecutive days trying to salvage belongings (and stay dry) as 20 inches of rain poured in. “The government has stated that they will prioritize clearing camps. Indeed, forced evictions are already on the rise, but still with no plan in place that assures Haiti’s homeless long-term access to safe, permanent and affordable housing. “The lack of any housing plan — one that also ensures access to basic services — while the government is at the same time promoting opportunities for large-scale foreign investment is tragically indicative of the Haitian government and international community’s priorities for Haiti. “International solidarity with the organized movements in Haiti that are calling for a social housing plan is more urgent now than ever.”