HAITI IS JUST NOW beginning to recover from a devastating earthquake earlier this year, and that only slowly according to aid agencies.
But with forecasters predicting a particularly severe hurricane season ahead, the Caribbean island nation is facing a second, potentially more deadly disaster.
“People are living in tents – some of them are good tents, others not so good,” said Crystal Penner, a programme manager for World Vision Canada who just returned from a two-month stay in Haiti.
“And we’re helping them to reinforce the tents, to make them more able to withstand storms and bad weather … but I’m not going to try to kid you: they’re tents and tarps and no tent is good enough to stand up to a hurricane.”
Penner told CTV.ca that World Vision and other aid organisations have had some success in helping Haitians prepare for hurricane season, which officially got underway this week.
But with Haiti’s persistent poverty, a government still reeling from the effects of the January 12 earthquake and roads and infrastructure that has yet to completely dug out from the rubble, Penner said a major hurricane could create an even worse catastrophe.
In 2004, hurricane Jeanne killed over 3 000 Haitians while in 2008, Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike killed some 1 000 people, destroyed 20 000 homes and wiped out 70 per cent of crops.
“And they were still recovering from that when the earthquake hit,” Penner said. “This is potentially a big, second disaster for Haiti.”
A disaster that appears almost inevitable, according to forecasts for this year’s hurricane season.
United States forecasters announced last week that they expected ten hurricanes to sweep through the Atlantic this year, five of them major ones, in what they said would be a “very active” hurricane season.
The Colorado State University hurricane team said the six-month season, which began last Tuesday, would likely see 18 named tropical storms. Of these, ten were predicted to become hurricanes and five were expected to become Category 3 or higher hurricanes, packing winds above 175 kilometres per hour.
The scientists had earlier forecast 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.
They estimated that there was a 65 per cent chance that one of those major hurricanes would track into the Caribbean, with Haiti almost certainly in the path of one.
The United States government’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration issued projections of up to 14 hurricanes, of which three to seven could be Category 3 or worse.
“If this outlook holds true, this season could be one of the more active on record,” said Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The greater likelihood of storms brings an increased risk of a landfall. In short, we urge everyone to be prepared.”
But that may not be possible for thousands of Haitians living in tents that are packed together in overcrowded camps susceptible to flooding and landslides. Latrines are at risk of overflowing and stagnant pools of water could bring disease.
Flash floods have the potential to be particularly deadly in Haiti because so much of its land has been stripped of trees and other vegetation, according to United States National Hurricane Centre director Bill Read, who has identified Haiti as his top concern this year.
The UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Haiti said in a statement that it was planning for a “worst-case scenario” given the number of people living in poor conditions even before any hurricane strikes.
Haiti’s recovery from the January earthquake has proceeded slowly and aid workers and government officials have said that almost two million people displaced by the quake were living in temporary shelters of one kind or another.
A major hurricane would devastate these camps, Penner said.
“It’s very hard to imagine living in a tent day in and day out,” she said. “Now imagine doing that in a hurricane.”
Homeless earthquake victims remain under tents and tarps in at least 1 200 camps across the country, many roads remain choked with rubble and many buildings still have visible cracks in their walls.
Penner said World Vision and other groups had begun “cash for work” programmes, paying unemployed earthquake victims to, among other things, dig trenches to divert rain water from the camps and to shore up the flimsy shelters as best they can.
But the Haitian government has designated only two new emergency relocation camps and few hurricane-resistant transitional houses have been built as the government and international aid groups continue to wrestle with land issues: how to get more of it, how to put up temporary houses and how to get camp dwellers with safe homes to return, or seek higher ground.
Nonetheless, the United States military has announced the end of major relief operations in Haiti after nearly five months of helping to distribute food and aid and keeping the peace after the quake, which killed more than 300 000 people, according to Haitian government estimates.
She said there was an urgent need for the government to start communicating with Haitians about how to protect themselves from the looming storms.
“These things are already being done in some cases, but more needs to happen.”
Agencies have set up 24-hour rapid-response teams to cope with the impacts of rain and storms at camps and Penner said they were pre-positioning supplies that would be needed in the wake of a hurricane at key spots around the country. (CTV)
