Haitians fear deadly rain
2010-02-09 22:33
Special Report
There is not much left of the city's numerous churches, beside crosses and the occasional surviving stained glass window...
Port-au-Prince - Survivors of Haiti's catastrophic earthquake have had one saving grace: There's been no significant rain since the disaster. But that won't last.
The rainy season in Haiti is deadly even in a good year. Now, in a devastated capital city, the early spring rains threaten to cause landslides and bring about health problems in the makeshift camps where more than 500 000 people are living.
Rain is already falling in some parts of the country, but Haiti's shattered capital, where most of the quake damage occurred, has been spared so far...a rarity for this time of year, when afternoon showers are common.
Steady rains could come as soon as the end of the month and hurricane season begins in June.
Workers are racing to move victims from flood plains and into tents.
They are also trying to clear tons of debris from ravines, canals and riverbeds, so rain does not turn the survivors' encampments into breeding grounds for disease.
"There will be health concerns," said engineer Mario Nicoleau of the US Agency for International Development's office in Haiti.
"The risks will be enormous and it is difficult to contemplate the unforeseen consequences."
Drainage
Haiti's government said it needed more money or tents if people were to be moved.
Interior minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime said: "We're going to have a big problem when the rainy season starts.
"We don't have $60m to buy 100 000 tents."
Hurricanes, tropical storms and floods are a constant threat in Haiti.
About 3 000 people died in the northern city of Gonaives in 2004 after tropical storm Jeanne.
Following the storm, more than $70m in aid was collected, but little of that was used for flood control. Gonaives flooded again in 2008, killing nearly 800 more.
Before the earthquake, aid groups were already trying to mitigate risks to flood-prone areas: building walls to stabilise hills, installing drainage systems and working with farmers to plant crops with root systems that help hold water.
Much of that work was suspended after the quake when aid groups shifted into emergency mode to help survivors.
Demolition crews and workers were piling rubble into designated places, but there's still no long-term plan for debris disposal, and the rains may come before the government settles on one.
Engineers are studying how the piles of rubble will shift water flows during flooding.
Haiti's government has talked of trying to relocate earthquake victims to organised camps outside the capital, but so far none has been built.
- AP