With Haiti's 9 million people badly battered by four lethal storms in fewer than four weeks, MAP International is rushing emergency aid to help launch a much-needed recovery effort.
Shortly after the fourth storm, Hurricane Ike, cleared the island, a MAP relief shipment worth more than a quarter of a million dollars arrived in Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince, on the country's western coast. A Haitian partner organization received the shipment and will fly it into some of the nation's areas hit hardest by the flooding. The medicines and supplies include antibiotics, analgesics, water purification tablets and gloves.
Over the past month, Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, has been repeatedly thrashed by tropical storms and hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike. Hardly any areas of Haiti were left untouched, and homes, hospitals and medical clinics are under water in many towns. Bridges are gone. Roads have been washed away. Livelihoods are devastated. And more than 300 Haitians are dead.
"Many Haitians have suffered for generation after generation due to extreme poverty and a lack of proper medical care," said Michael Nyenhuis, president of MAP International. "For years, MAP has assisted them by providing them with millions of dollars of medication through partner agencies. Now, with so many people sick and homeless, it is more important than ever that MAP provide them with the medicines and supplies necessary to receive critical medical care."
Water-borne and other diseases now threaten a population that, without outside assistance, can do little to avoid such health risks. Thousands of families who fled to their rooftops during Hanna remain there because their houses are uninhabitable. Sewage has begun to mingle with the floodwaters and drainage canals and sump pumps have been rendered useless. Many people try to collect rainwater to drink.
Just before the storms, however, MAP had already shipped more than $5 million in medicines to partner organizations in Haiti. Much of these medicines will be used to treat people left sick or injured by the flooding.
With the support of our donors, MAP will continue to provide lifesaving medicines and supplies to the people of Haiti in the upcoming weeks and months.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A resident sits in front of a wall covered with mud after his house was partially destroyed during last Monday's mudslide in Xiangfen County, Shanxi province, September 15, 2008. The death ...
