22215: (Chamberlain) Caribbean Storms-Aid (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   MARJOFRI, Haiti, June 1 (AP) -- Some of the villages devastated by
floods that killed more than 1,700 in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are
the hardest to reach as aid workers race to find ways to bring in food and
water.
   A torrent of water tore through here, destroying the only road leading
to the farming community. At least seven people died and dozens are left
without shelter, food, water. Many more had their crops destroyed.
   Eight days later, no help has reached Marjofri and it's unclear whether
it ever will.
   "It always floods here when there's heavy rain, but there's never damage
like this," said Armand Joseph, 44, pointing to a swamp that covered her
corn and banana field.
   Helicopters from a U.S.-led multinational force have been ferrying food
and water to Fond Verrettes, Mapou and Thiotte -- southeastern villages
with thousands of residents where the need was considered the greatest.
   But with the U.S. mission nearing its end, aid workers are looking at
other ways to help, especially with Tuesday's onset of hurricane season.
   "We knew from the start that helicopter shuttling by the Americans was
limited," said Michel Matera of the U.N. Development Program.
   The U.S.-led multinational force, which officially handed control to a
U.N. force Tuesday, said it has stalled flights to assess needs in other
areas. Eventually, however, the Americans and their helicopters will leave.
   In the southern port town of Marigot, workers from Baltimore-based
Catholic Relief Services, Chicago-based World Vision, and Caritas spent
half a day loading tens of thousands of pounds of food and supplies onto
dinghies on Sunday.
   Crowded onto the boat for five hours, some aid workers became violently
seasick.
   But on reaching the seaside village of Grand Gosier, the workers
discovered there was no way for them to transport the goods to the needy.
   They then trekked for six hours to Mapou to tell people to come back to
carry the food for themselves. Like most of impoverished Haiti, there are
no telephones in the area.
   Florence Fleranta, 26, was one of the first to meet up with the aid
workers. She had walked three hours from Cayes Didier, where she lost 12
family members.
   "So many people died along that route," she said. "The smell is so bad,
you have to cover your nose with a lime."
   The next day, hundreds of people came, walking for hours under a
scorching sun and negotiating mud, gravel and boulders swept down from
denuded mountains. Many arrived exhausted.
   But they got enough food to feed a family of five for 15 days.
   "An effective way to reach these places would have been by helicopter,"
said George Malval of Catholic Relief Services. But he said they reached
many of the area's needy from Grand Gosier: "As long as there is a will,
everything is do-able."