22183: (Chamberlain) Recovering Haiti villages seen vulnerable to mud ... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>
    ...

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 30 (Reuters) - The villages near the center
of Haiti's flooding disaster are at risk for more mud slides of the type
that contributed to deaths of 2,000 people last week, foreign aid workers
said on Sunday.
     As U.S. Army helicopters flew food and water over mountains to the
southeastern town of Mapou, Red Cross groups said surveys of the
surrounding area showed Bawa and other villages appeared vulnerable to more
mud slides.
     "At Bawa, 150 households are in danger; at least 55 have been buried
and 32 are still missing," a Red Cross official said. "The villages are
threatened by accumulations of mud and rocks on mountains that could come
down on the villages."
     Mapou, an isolated town some 25 miles (40 km) from Port-au-Prince, was
hard hit last week by torrential rains that have left an estimated 2,000
people dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the more prosperous of the
two countries which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
     As many as 1,000 of the dead were in Mapou, which was engulfed by
floods, officials say. Roads to Mapou were damaged by torrents of mud and
water that swept down hillsides and submerged the town.
     The U.S. helicopters, which were in Haiti as part of a multinational
force dispatched after a bloody revolt against former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide,  on Sunday delivered tons of food and water,
according to U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan.
    Emergency supplies transported by helicopter in recent days have
included medicines, tarps, plastic sheeting and a small boat meant to help
workers searching for possible survivors and corpses, Lapan said.
     Last week's flooding ravaged the crops and livestock of poor farmers
who scratch out a living and piled misery onto already desperate conditions
in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas. Average per capita annual
income for Haiti's 8 million people is about $300.
     A small earthquake rattled the southern border of Haiti and the
Dominican Republic on Saturday but there were no reports of further deaths
or destruction.