These Photos Of Haiti Show The Pain And Turmoil From Back-To-Back Natural Disasters
Days after a magnitude 7.2 tremor killed more than 1,400 people, bodies still lie in the streets as officials grapple with the chaos and poor weather.
Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Grace battered the island of Haiti on Tuesday, days after a deadly earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation. Saturday’s magnitude 7.2 tremor killed more than 1,000 people and left tens of thousands of others without homes.
Days after the quake, bodies still lie in the streets as officials grapple with the chaos and poor weather. Some hospitals are now too structurally unsafe following the disaster, forcing medical staffers to treat patients outside. Many other people are too scared to return to their homes, fearing another tremor will bring them down.
As people seek what shelter they can, often in makeshift tents, humanitarian workers have been delivering food and tending to injuries. Save the Children has supplied approximately 250 families with tarps, jerricans, and kits to care for babies, but the aid group says the weather is exacerbating the already dire situation.
“I see children crying on the street, people asking us for food, but we are low on food ourselves as well,” Carl-Henry Petit-Frère, a field manager for Save the Children, told the Associated Press. “The organizations that are here are doing what they can, but we need more supplies. Food, clean water, and shelter are needed most, and we need them fast.”
A deeply impoverished and unstable country, Haiti is still reeling from the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people, as well as the assassination of its president last month and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
A woman and child spent the night outside in the aftermath of the earthquake, Aug. 17.
A man cries as he waits for a sack of rice being distributed to residents in Les Cayes, Aug. 16.
Members of a humanitarian aid team deliver bags of food on Aug. 16.
Families displaced by the earthquake sit under blankets to shield themselves from the rain on the morning of Aug. 17.
A woman argues with a military guard as Haitians stand in line to receive a bag of food, Aug. 16.
Earthquake victims are assisted in the Communautaire de Référence hospital in Port-Salut, Aug. 16.
A child cries while receiving medical treatment, Aug. 16.
A child receives medical treatment in Haiti, Aug. 16.
A building in ruins, Aug. 17
Residents wade through a flooded road on the morning of Aug. 17.
Residents collect water after an earthquake on Aug. 16.
Haitians stand in line to receive a bag of food, Aug. 16.
People gather near bins of water after the earthquake in Camp-Perrin, Haiti, Aug. 16.
People make repairs and create shelters after spending the night outside following the earthquake, Aug 17.
A woman carries mattresses into a school classroom where people take shelter amid heavy rain, Aug. 17.
Children displaced by the earthquake huddle under a piece of plastic, Aug. 17.
An injured man is carried to a health center, Aug. 16.
A woman displaced by the earthquake sits under a tarp, Aug. 17.
A woman stands near her home that was destroyed in the earthquake, Aug. 16.
People displaced by the earthquake sit inside a church, Aug. 17.
A woman sleeps outside in Saint-Louis-du-Sud, Haiti, Aug. 16.
People displaced by the earthquake seek refuge under an awning, Aug. 17.
A girl sleeps inside a church that is offering shelter to people displaced by the earthquake, Aug. 17.
-
Contact Kirsten Chilstrom at kirsten.chilstrom@buzzfeed.com.
Got a confidential tip? Submit it here.
-
David Mack is a deputy director of breaking news for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact David Mack at david.mack@buzzfeed.com.
