A tropical storm has swept over Haiti just two days after a powerful earthquake killed more than 1,419 people.
Heavy rainfall and strong winds have hit some of the most deprived areas in the country, as officials warned that Tropical Storm Grace could bring up to 15 inches of rainfall.
Saturday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake destroyed thousands of homes, offices, churches and other structures. At least 6,000 people were injured in the tremor.
But the storm is expected to make the recovery mission more difficult. Many of those awaiting medical treatment have been lying outside in wilting heat.
Tropical Storm Grace's rain and wind raised the threat of mudslides and flash flooding as it slowly passed by southwestern Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula overnight, before heading towards Jamaica and southeastern Cuba on Tuesday.
A woman injured in Saturday's 7.2 magnitude quake is transported on a hospital bed to a hospital, in Les Cayes, Haiti August 16, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
RICARDO ARDUENGO
The quake nearly wrecked some towns in the south west in the latest disaster to befall the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. Haitians were already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, gang violence, worsening poverty and the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
“We are in an exceptional situation,” Prime Minister Ariel Henry told reporters on Monday afternoon as the storm approached. A hospital in the badly damaged town of Les Cayes was so crowded with patients after the earthquake that many had to lie on patios and in corridors, verandas and hallways, but the approaching storm had officials scrambling to relocate them as best they could.
A man searches the site of a collapsed hotel after Saturday's 7.2 magnitude quake, in Les Cayes, Haiti August 16, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
RICARDO ARDUENGO
“We had planned to put up tents (on hospital patios), but we were told that could not be safe,” said Gede Peterson, director of Les Cayes General Hospital. It is not the first time the hospital has been forced to improvise. The refrigeration in the hospital’s mortuary has not worked for three months, but after the earthquake struck on Saturday, staff had to store as many as 20 bodies in the small space.
Relatives quickly came to take most to private embalming services or immediate burial. “We are working now to ensure that the resources we have are going to get to the places that are hardest hit,” said Civil Protection Agency head Jerry Chandler, referring to the hard-hit towns of Les Cayes and Jeremie and the department of Nippes.
Quake victims continued to stream to Les Cayes’ overwhelmed general hospital, waiting on stair steps, in corridors and on an open veranda. “After two days, they are almost always generally infected,” said Dr Paurus Michelete, who had treated 250 patients and was one of only three doctors on call when the quake hit.
He added that painkillers, analgesics and steel pins to mend fractures were running out amid the crush of patients. Meanwhile, rescuers and scrap metal scavengers dug into the floors of a collapsed hotel in the coastal town, where 15 bodies had already been extracted.
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