Hurricane death toll rises to 43 in Haiti as aid pours in across the northern Caribbean
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- Category 5 Hurricane Melissa kills at least 43 in Haiti, with 13 others missing, thousands of homes destroyed and landslides devastating the southwest region.
- Jamaica reports at least 32 deaths with more than two dozen communities isolated; aid organizations warn of looming humanitarian crisis without delivery of swift relief.
- More than 1,700 people shelter in temporary housing as international relief agencies coordinate water distribution and supplies to storm-ravaged communities across the Caribbean.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s government said Tuesday that the death toll from Hurricane Melissa rose to 43, with 13 others still missing.
Crews were still trying to reach people in the country’s southwest region, where landslides and floodwaters devastated more than 30 communities.
At least 25 deaths occurred in the southwestern coastal town of Petit-Goave, one of the hardest hit communities.
The Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, flooded nearly 12,000 homes and destroyed nearly 200 others after its outer bands battered Haiti last week. Numerous roads remain inaccessible.
The government warned that there’s a drinking water shortage in several communities, and that it will soon distribute seeds and tools to farmers facing major agricultural losses.
More than 1,700 people remain in shelters.
Meanwhile, in nearby Jamaica, crews were trying to reach more than two dozen communities that remained cut off since Melissa made landfall Oct. 28.
The storm killed at least 32 people in Jamaica, with officials warning that the number would rise.
Mike Bassett, head of the Christian disaster relief and development organization World Vision International, said a potential humanitarian crisis could unfold if aid is not delivered quickly.
“I have been doing this for over 10 years, and I have never seen anything like this,” Bassett said Tuesday while in Jamaica.
He said that while visiting hurricane-ravaged communities such as Chester Castle and Cambridge, people were seen bathing in a river and harvesting its water for drinking because of a lack of electricity and water supply in the hurricane’s aftermath.
World Vision is among a growing list of international aid agencies and volunteers that are working independently and with Jamaican officials to administer aid.
“The relief flights are coming in fast and furious and there is no shortage of supplies,” said Transport and Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, who is the co-chair of the special committee established to streamline the government’s relief and recovery efforts.
Pearnel Charles Jr., who leads Jamaica’s Labor and Social Security Ministry, said the relief effort is being ramped up.
“We are coordinating with every available resource,” said Charles, who rejected complaints that not enough was being done to get aid to storm survivors fast enough.
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