Haiti death toll: 1 000

2004-09-23 07:09

Gonaives - The death toll from devastating floods in northern Haiti topped rose to 1 000 on Wednesday, with another 1 200 missing and possibly dead, and more than 900 wounded, a United Nations spokesperson in the impoverished nation said.

And with relief agencies battling mud and high water to get aid to a quarter million people affected by the flooding, tension rose in the city of Gonaives where famished residents tried to plunder trucks carrying emergency supplies, another UN official said.

"Our official toll at this stage is 1 013 people dead, 1 200 missing and 918 wounded," said Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, the spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission that is playing a key role in the relief efforts.

He said that in view of the high number of people missing and feared dead, the death toll was certain to rise further.

Unbearable stench

Most of the fatalities were in the northern city of Gonaives, where many streets remained under water on Wednesday, four days after Hurricane Jeanne caused deadly floods and mudslides in the Caribbean nation.

With human remains rotting away in the sweltering heat and piled up in morgues that had no electricity for refrigeration, officials started burying the dead in mass graves.

The stench was almost unbearable in Gonaives, where carcasses of goats and cows littered the ground and open sewers spewed into the streets.

Several UNICEF officials who travelled to Gonaives on an assessment mission on Wednesday had to be pulled out early as the security situation deteriorated.

With the airport completely flooded, no planes can land in the city. A first convoy of food-laden trucks arrived in Gonaives on Tuesday night, but two of the 12 vehicles sent in from Port-au-Prince toppled over in deep water just outside the city.

The UN peacekeepers themselves were affected by the floods, which destroyed part of the barracks of the Argentine contingent in Gonaives.

In New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed for more aid.

Aid was already flowing into the country from Canada, Brazil, France and Venezuela, while the European Union, Switzerland, the United States and others pledged emergency funds.

Babies were carried to the roof

Food and clean water were top priorities, officials said. Also on the list of emergency supplies needed in the area were bodybags and medical supplies.

There are also fears that water-related diseases might break out.

Relief officials said rebuilding Gonaives' Providence hospital would be a crucial task.

The hospital was ravaged by the floods, and witnesses said that about 250 of the 300 patients were killed or were missing. "We could only save the babies we carried to the roof," said nurse Helelald Wilner.

Many policemen deserted their posts and hundreds of prisoners escaped in Gonaives during the floods.

- AFP