29059: Hermantin(news)Some seaside homes lost; few deaths are reported (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haiti spared devastation

Some seaside homes lost; few deaths are reported



By Ruth Morris
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

August 29, 2006



Pelted by torrential rains, but spared catastrophic damage, Haiti awoke from 
Ernesto's passage Monday to reports of at least two storm-related deaths and 
seaside homes carried out to sea.

Dr. Michaele Gedeon, president of the Haitian Red Cross, confirmed the storm 
system had caused two deaths, one in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, and 
one in the southern peninsula, where rains were heaviest.

She said the relief agency was looking into reports of a third victim on Gonave 
Island, opposite the capital.

In South Florida, meanwhile, Haitian-Americans entered a wearisome routine of 
redialing phone numbers disconnected by the storm, hoping for any scrap of 
information about loved ones, while simultaneously preparing for Ernesto's 
arrival themselves.

Bito David, a Haitian-born public-relations officer for Palm Beach County, 
tried repeatedly to reach friends in southern Haiti on Monday, even as he 
prepared a news release for the U.S. media saying schools would be closed as 
South Florida residents hunkered down.

David said he repeatedly tried to help a friend contact his mother in the 
Haitian city of Les Cayes, on the wide southern finger of land that had fallen 
into the storm's path.

"We've made 15 calls," he said. "It's not easy to get in touch with them."

David said he still worried about Ernesto's potential to wreak havoc, mindful 
that Hurricane Jeanne did not come ashore in 2004 but caused more than 2,000 
deaths in Haiti.

The flooding that followed knocked the country back for months.

Natural disasters tend to affect Haiti disproportionately because the country 
is ill equipped to respond.

Rampant deforestation means mudslides are common after storms. Phone service is 
patchy and rebuilding materials scarce.

David was optimistic about Ernesto's aftermath in Haiti, as it shed most of its 
rain in the south, where mountainous terrain gives way to a fringe of 
coastline, helping drainage.

But Haitian Americans in South Florida were nevertheless concerned.

Dr. Aldy Castor, a physician living in Weston, said he owns a 12-room hotel in 
a southwestern Haitian town called Aquin. He called the manager Monday morning 
to learn a nearby river had overflowed.

"He said they had a lot of wind, about 60 kilometers per hour," Castor said. 
"They had some crop damage."

Haitian physicians in South Florida would meet soon to assess the situation and 
prepare to respond if necessary, said Dr. Yves Jodesty, a native of Les Cayes,.

"The first basic necessity they would need now is food and water, and down the 
road there may be medical problems," he said.

Gedeon, of the Red Cross, said that relief organization evacuated some 30 
families Sunday evening in the southern quadrant of Port-au-Prince.

There was also flood damage to homes in the western part of the city, she said.

"Our goal was zero deaths," Gedeon said in a phone interview. "The poverty is a 
crucial problem, but we are rich because we have so many volunteers who come to 
help us."

Staff Writer Alva James-Johnson contributed to this report.



Ruth Morris can be reached at rmorris@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5012.


Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel