Haiti: Death toll from weekend earthquake nears 2,000
Wednesday, 18 August 2021 (11:06 IST)
The death toll from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti in the weekend has risen to 1,941, officials said on Tuesday.
On Saturday, the earthquake hit the southwestern part of the Caribbean nation, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Hospitals struggled to tend to all those injured. So far, Haiti's civil protection agency has reported that at least 9,915 people were wounded.
After the quake tore down tens of thousands of houses, a tropical storm brought torrential downpours on survivors already coping with the catastrophe.
Tropical Storm Grace hits Haiti
Grace lashed southwestern Haiti, which was hit hardest by Saturday's quake.
The US National Hurricane Center warned of flash and urban flooding and possible mudslides as Grace battered Haiti with up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain.
Intermittent rain fell in the earthquake-damaged city of Les Caves and in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
Officials warned residents to watch out for buildings showing cracks from the earthquake and could collapse under the weight of rain.
Hospitals were increasingly overwhelmed as patients who had been camping outside moved indoors to escape the tropical storm.
Limited or no access to resources
The United Nations' children's agency UNICEF said that more than half a million children have been affected by the tragedy.
"Countless Haitian families who have lost everything due to the earthquake are now living literally with their feet in the water due to the flooding," said Bruno Maes, the UNICEF representative in Haiti.
"Right now, about half a million Haitian children have limited or no access to shelter, safe water, health care and nutrition."
Over 1,800 cisterns with drinking water in the coastal community of Pestel have cracked or been destroyed in the quake.
The UN said it had allocated $8 million (€6.8 million) in emergency funds to provide essential health care, clean water, emergency shelter and sanitation for people affected by the quake.
"We will continue to scale up our response to the hardest-hit areas," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
Before the earthquake and the storm, Haitians were already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, gang violence, worsening poverty and the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
