After Hurricane Matthew, devastation in Haiti is catastrophic
Port-au-Prince -- Haiti is struggling to recover from Hurricane Matthew. The storm is blamed for at least 1,000 reported deaths in the Caribbean nation. Nearly 1.5 million people need help, and a lack of clean water is spreading cholera. American cargo planes have begun flying in humanitarian aid.
Days after Matthew made landfall, hundreds are dead and tens of thousands are homeless and hungry, reports CBSN’s Vladimir Duthiers.
In the town of Jérémie, 80 percent of the buildings are damaged or destroyed. All of the roofs of the folks on the country side are made of tin, and there is no way that tin is going to sustain in the face of 145 mph winds.
Jeff Jeanty showed us what was left of his home. Jeanty described the horror of living through the storm.
“The first house, the roof was lift. I called them, come in here, come in here. Then they come in,” Jeanty said.
More than 1,000 people are staying at this shelter. A school that survived the hurricane since it’s one of the few structures made of concrete. They tell us they’ve seen little to nothing in terms of help from their government.
Joseline Saint-Preux said if you look at all of the children that are at the shelter, there are many children who haven’t eaten in many, many days and they have nothing. They don’t have anything to eat, they don’t have anything to drink and for the moment no one is coming to help them.
But the long-term concern for those here became clear as they surrounded us before we left Jérémie. They want to be remembered. Everybody gave Duthiers their names, and he’s been taking down the names of everybody here. They just want the world to know what’s going on. Duthiers thinks that they feel that by giving him their names, people won’t forget them.