Caribbean Disaster: Floods Hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic

JEFFREY BROWN:

Two weeks of heavy spring rains triggered devastating floods that began early Monday, striking parts of the island of Hispaniola, home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Many residents were asleep when rivers burst their banks, mudslides swept away entire neighborhoods.

MAN (Translated ):

I tried to rescue my two little children. I took them with both arms, but the water pulled me away with them.

WOMAN (Translated ):

When I wanted to go out of my house, the river already swept away everything. My sister was also carried away like the rest.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Hardest hit in the Dominican Republic was Jimani about 100 miles east of the capital Santo Domingo. Several Haitian towns fared even worse, including Fond Verrettes and Mapou, 30 miles southeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Haiti's prime minister said the flooding was made worse by deforestation.

GERARD LATORTUE:

The forest up through there has been completely destroyed. I say completely, but probably by 80 percent. And the root of the problem is that we have to go and reforest the hill, and until we do that, every two, three, four years, after some heavy rain, the same thing could happen again.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Rescuers have spent the week digging through the mud searching for survivors and recovering bodies. Government officials said an accurate death toll is impossible so far, but at least a thousand have been killed. Some have been buried in mass graves. Many roads in the region were impassable, isolating survivors in need of food, water and medical care. Helicopters were used to ferry supplies. U.S. Marines aided in that effort. They're in Haiti as part of a multinational task force to stabilize the country after the ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Late today I spoke to marco kokic of the International Red Cross/Red Crescent. He's visited some of the hardest hit areas helicopter. He talked to us from Port-au- Prince.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Mr. Kokic, you were in Mapou yesterday. Tell us what you saw.

MARKO KOKIC:

Yesterday we flew in with the multinational interim forces. They provided us a helicopter, and as we were flying in, you could see the mountain range, and Mapou, that area, which is a plain in between in between these mountains, and huge tracts of land were still under water. As we landed, there were hundreds of people near the landing strip, waiting to receive aid.

JEFFREY BROWN:

What are the most critical needs right now?

MARKO KOKIC:

We sent in a team to do a quick evaluation, and… well, the multinational interim forces have been providing water, two crates every hour of water by helicopter, but our team, what we did was, while we were up in the air, our water sanitation specialist did a quick survey, and he saw that one of the biggest priorities right now is that that water has to go somewhere, the water that's on the ground, and we're expecting rain, more rain this weekend. And he saw some… with all the debris, he saw some dams, and what he's afraid of is, with the new rains, that the people that have been displaced and are living in previously safe areas, those areas might not be safe.

So the first priority is to identify those areas and evacuate people to safer areas and give them temporary shelter. The second priority is, there's still cadavers in the water in the areas that are flooded, and that poses a serious health risk. So we have to provide means to the community to recuperate those, to get those cadavers, try to quickly identify them, and quickly bury them before it poses a health risk.

JEFFREY BROWN:

What are you hearing from elsewhere, other places in the country today?

MARKO KOKIC:

Well, in Fond Verrettes, i know that the people have been… yesterday they were given food by the World Food Program, and they should be okay for a few days, but the focus today has been in Mapou with the humanitarian agencies. The biggest, the biggest constraint all the agencies have right now is that these places are isolated. You can't get by roads. The only way to get in is by helicopter, and there are only so many helicopters available. So it's very difficult to get the amount of aid in that's necessary right now.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Well, let me ask you about the relief effort, because this natural disaster comes at a very difficult time for Haiti, soon after its political turmoil. How much is the government able to mobilize this effort?

MARKO KOKIC:

Well, the government's helping with some of the coordination and also trying to find out who… the numbers of people through the ministry of the interior, with whom we're in contact.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Now, Haiti's prime minister mentioned that deforestation is making the problem worse. Can you explain how that affects the flooding, what the problem is?

MARKO KOKIC:

Well, you know, even if you drive through these mountains, the first thing you'll notice is that the cultivated land goes right up to the summit. There are hardly any trees left. There's massive deforestation in these areas. So that's, it's quite apparent that that's the principal cause.

JEFFREY BROWN:

And why are the trees being cut?

MARKO KOKIC:

Well, because people need, need to cultivate the land. They need fuel for fires. They need wood to build things. So it's been ongoing for quite a while.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Now, how soon do you think you'll be able to get trucks into the area? You mentioned more rain. What is the situation with the roads?

MARKO KOKIC:

The roads are being cleared gradually. Fond Verrettes, which I'd heard that in Fond Verrettes they're trying to clear the roads, but the thing is that in the southeast district we're afraid because of the rains that are coming this weekend, that even if some of the roads have been partially cleared, that new flooding might again block them. But there is really no access to those areas right now by road.

JEFFREY BROWN:

So what happens next, in the coming days?

MARKO KOKIC:

Well, in the coming days, the first thing is we're trying to set up a base of operations there, with the people there, and keep them there for a while. We have this helicopter at our disposal for at least a couple of days so we can bring in more aid. The multinational interim forces are also helping to bring in aid. The U.N. agencies are working there as well. So together we hope to satisfy the immediate needs of the people.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Okay. Marko Kokic of the International Red Cross/Red Crescent, thank you very much.

MARKO KOKIC:

Thank you very much.