Rain Complicates Problems in Haiti

Ruth Destile is a mother of two children who have been sick since the day of the earthquake. Her tent is soaked from the rain and she doesn’t even have a place to take care of them.

Photo/Video courtesy: United Nations/MINUSTAH

(PORT-AU-PRINCE / SALEM) - The rain began falling in Haiti two days ago, and a new wave of fear may be spreading among the survivors of last month’s earthquake.

Demonstrations are happening around the capital Port-au-Prince. These Haitians say they have nowhere to sleep because their tents are soaked from the rain.

A demonstrator there said conditions are rough.

“We are out in the street since midnight. There is nowhere to sleep. They (authorities) didn’t give us any tents. They have put some in the streets so that you can see them, but we haven’t gotten any.”

The Caribbean hurricane season is only a few months away. And the rainy season begins earlier in Haiti, with downpours heavy enough to cause landslides and enough water to bring disease.

Ruth Destile is a mother of two children who have been sick since the day of the earthquake.

Her tent is soaked from the rain and she doesn’t even have a place to take care of them.

She said, “When it’s raining, children are getting wet. I have to come here, because I don’t have a place where I can take care of my children.”

Aid agencies say the top priority is to bring hazard resistant shelter which can withstand heavy rains and even hurricanes, but officials say there are still nearly 750,000 people who have not received basic shelter like tents and plastic tarps.

Around fifty people in this camp have left to ask for more tents.

Jude Cadet also survived the deadly quake, “There is no food, there is no water, there is nothing, nothing, nothing at all.”

Experts say the chief concern is how these make-shift tents in camps where more than 500,000 people are now living throughout Port-au-Prince will hold up.

Conditions in the camp are already vulnerable and with the rain they could deteriorate further.

The UN says that out of the estimated 1 million homeless, around 250,000 have received temporary or medium-term shelter.