23345: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Storm Aftermath (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   GONAIVES, Oct 2 (AP) -- On streets still caked with dried mud, vendors
sold sacks of flour and avocados Saturday as commerce slowly returns to
this flood-ravaged city -- with sharply higher prices that are putting a
pinch on the desperately poor and hungry.
   Catastrophic floods ruined gas stations, destroyed crops and blocked
some roads two weeks ago as Tropical Storm Jeanne took a staggering human
toll, killing more than 1,550 and leaving some 900 missing, most presumed
dead. Now street merchants are stepping in to fill urgent needs, hawking
gasoline and propane in plastic jugs, and everything from bananas to
charcoal at inflated prices.
   "There is such a shortage that the prices are so high," complained
Hertha Gabriel, 31, who was discouraged by doubled prices for charcoal but
negotiated a discount for a bag through an acquaintance.
   At the Place d'Armes in Gonaives, merchants sold gasoline and propane in
plastic barrels and jugs, with prices up about 30 percent.
   While the market bustled, Argentine U.N. peacekeepers fired smoke
grenades to keep order as aid workers handed out bags of wheat and lentils.
Some 2,000 people formed single-file lines, but many were elbowing and
shoving. They scattered when the smoking canisters landed, then returned to
the line.
   Argentine troops also fired over the heads of men who jumped on a relief
truck Saturday and stole plastic pouches of water. The men fled, and the
truck continued to a distribution spot.
   The commander of the Brazilian-led U.N. force, Gen. Augusto Heleno
Ribeiro Pereira, said his troops were exhausted and more international aid
was needed. The storm's aftermath has tied up some 750 of the 3,000-member
U.N. troops sent to keep peace after former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide was ousted in February.
   "We are with troops in a situation of exhaustion as they are practically
working 24-seven," he said in an interview conducted Thursday and aired
Saturday on the Brazilian military radio station Verde Oliva. He
acknowledged some of the food distribution was done in a "very precarious
way."
   "We need to continue asking the entire world to continue to send us
help," the general said. "There is a population that needs food, water,
medical services."
   Brazil sent a plane carrying 14 tons of food and medical supplies to
Haiti on Saturday, and the U.N. World Food Program sent 100 tons of
high-energy biscuits that arrived Friday night from Italy. The aid was
loaded onto trucks and headed for Gonaives.
   Aid workers marked recipients' thumbs with indelible ink to make clear
those who have received food. Others stayed away from distribution points,
saying they fear violence.
   Gonaives resident Harry Magofie said he had been distributing water and
hot food from his car until two helpers were injured by hurled rocks on
Tuesday. "It's too dangerous," he said.
   The floods left an estimated 300,000 homeless, some 200,000 in the
northwestern city of Gonaives, and destroyed many crops in the Artibonite
region, where much of Haiti's rice and other foods are produced.
   One road into Gonaives was lined with women pulling donkeys loaded with
onions, garlic and fruit Saturday morning. Some said they came from the
hills with food that had survived the storm.
   Moliene Pierre, 45, walked two hours to the market with a sack of flour
on her head and two of her children carrying baskets of avocados. She said
she had lost two other children in the floods, along with what little money
she had.
   She said she had borrowed money to buy the flour, which a supplier had
sold her for $34, up from $28 before the storm. She said a farmer who sold
her the avocados had doubled prices due to scarcity.
   "What we need is credit from the government or lending organizations,"
she said. "It's the only solution because they're bringing in food for
distribution but people aren't getting it because of the fighting."