No shelter from the storm for Haiti quake victims
Posted May 31st, 2010
By Ben Fox of the Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A hurricane season predicted to be one of the wettest on record opens Tuesday in the Caribbean, where hundreds of thousands of Haitian earthquake victims have only tarps or fraying tents to protect them in a major storm.
The Haitian government, which had five months to prepare, says it’s still working on emergency and evacuation plans. But it is unclear where people will go with many churches, schools and other potential shelters toppled by the quake.
Since the Jan. 12 earthquake killed up to 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless, there has been little progress on clearing rubble so people can return to their neighborhoods or building sturdier shelters.
Dr. Jean Pape, one of the country’s most prominent public health experts, estimates that only 1 percent of the masses stuck in dangerous flood zones have been relocated.
“There’s no give here. Time is just running out,” said Mark L. Schneider, senior vice president of the International Crisis Group. “There’s no question that large numbers, tens of thousands, are going to be in situations of misery when the rains come.” …