Haiti Is Still Forgotten As It Is Pounded By Yet Another Hurricane, Ike

the apathy is breathtaking, Kyle. I'm going to look for some action items today. noticed that parryander (who commented in NPK's diary and whom you quote in the first Haiti piece here) has some suggestions and as he is semi-local to Haiti and knows the area very well, I'm happy to see this. I need to check on a few things but will report back on my findings. I know phone service (and cell phone service) is as expected out in Cap Haitien and Port au Prince.

thank you, Kyle, for keeping the horrible plight of the Haitians highlighted.

Sunday afternoon news update.

Appears the ongoing exodus from Gonaives as well as the increasing panic, hunger, lack of shelter throughout Haiti continue to pose a challenge as to where to direct recovery efforts. The north central, northeastern areas such as Cap Haïtien are inaccessible as yet due to flooding.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières are in Gonaïves, Saint Michel de l’Atalaye and Port-au-Prince.

A three-person MSF team went to Cap Haïtien to assess the emergency response capacities and establish local contacts to help immediately assess needs in aftermath of Hurricane Ike. MSF teams have not been able to reach many of the flooded areas on the eastern side of the community. Hospitals and health structures are reported to have been seriously damaged in this area. Today [September 7, 2008] the flooded areas between Gonaïves, Port de Paix, and Cap Haïtien cannot be reached while towns like Enry or Gros Morne, which were strongly affected by Hanna, have not received any assistance. MSF is still pushing to gain access to these areas, though the coming hurricane might limit their ability to reach these areas.

UN World Food Program reports that :

WFP is battling the elements to bring a lifeline to Haitian families hit by the impact of successive deadly storms, which have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed scores of homes and plantations.

“WFP has first-rate logistics, and this storm system is putting us to the test,” said Myrta Kaulard, WFP Representative in Haiti. “We are sending food, water and other humanitarian supplies by air and sea while anticipating further emergency needs from approaching storms.”

WFP has already distributed food to some 14,000 people affected by Hurricane Gustav, which hit southern Haiti last week.

and in a follow-up courtesy of Southern Ledger:

Flooded roads, broken piers and mass cell phone outages impeded efforts Friday to get food to about 2,000 hungry people, even as Hurricane Ike threatened to trigger more deadly floods across the water-logged city this weekend.

The rusty container ship Trois Rivieres, chartered by the U.N. World Food Program, arrived belching white smoke at a remote private port outside the city. It was guarded by Argentine peacekeepers brandishing assault rifles.

Within hours, the U.N. began distributing high-energy biscuits and water to emergency shelters where at least 40,000 people were marooned and increasingly desperate. Workers delivered aid to some 2,000 people in two shelters before operations were suspended at dusk, considering it too dangerous to work in the city after dark.