Tons of aid headed to flood victims in Haiti

Rescuers raced against time and weather yesterday to reach stranded survivors who scratched for water in the dirt of villages ravaged by floods that killed more than 2,000 people on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

The World Food Programme rushed 20 tons of rice, cereal and vegetables aboard military helicopters destined for 4,000 people in Mapou, a remote valley village submerged by flood waters that triggered mudslides this week in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

"Mapou is a completely devastated village. It is under some feet of water," said Inigo Alvarez, a WFP official who travelled to the town some 40 km southeast of Port-au-Prince. "The villagers are in a desperate situation. They were asking for food."

In Mapou and surrounding villages isolated when mountain roads were washed out by the floods, an estimated 10,000 people were in immediate need of help, international aid groups said.

Bijo Cadet, a 40-year-old resident of the area, said people were digging in the dirt for pools of water to drink.

"We sit here. We are waiting to see what God will do for us," Cadet said.

Aid workers said they feared the dire need for water could trigger an epidemic.

"Some of the wells in the area are already contaminated by the decomposing bodies of the people and animals," Alvarez said.

The death toll in Haiti stood at about 1,800, including 1,000 reported deaths in Mapou, hundreds more in surrounding villages in the southeast and some 160 in Fond Verettes, a town near the Dominican border flattened by flood waters. About 350 people were killed in the Dominican Republic, most in the border town of Jimani.

Just three months after a bloody rebellion that ousted its president and government, Haiti was confronting its worst natural disaster in a decade with the help of US, French and other foreign troops sent by the United Nations for security.

With roads impassable, military helicopters meant for peacekeeping duties were providing critical transportation to remote villages. Some flights were grounded by thunderstorms on Thursday and bad weather threatened the rescue effort again on Friday.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Most of its eight million people scratch out a living from the land and per capita annual income is about $300.

Haitians have cut down virtually all of the nation's trees to make charcoal for cooking fuel, leaving the barren land vulnerable to flash floods and mudslides.

The World Food Programme delivered 12 tons of emergency supplies on Thursday to Fond Verettes, where an estimated 8,500 people are in dire need. Relief agencies issued a worldwide call for aid.

In the Dominican Republic, authorities in the devastated town of Jimani were focusing efforts on avoiding outbreaks of disease in the area.

Officials said 329 people were killed, and some 370 were missing. More than 600 homes were swept away.