Survivors in Haiti scrambled for shelter, food and medical supplies overnight, as a tropical storm hampered efforts to rescue tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed in Saturday’s massive earthquake.
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Heavy rainfall on Tuesday battered temporary shelters set up since the weekend, drenching people stranded by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Some slept out in the open.
Officials raised the death toll on Tuesday to 1,941, though that figure was expected to rise. Flooding and mudslides cut off some roads, blocking aid deliveries and residents still searching for victims in the rubble.
Residents of Les Cayes prepared to weather Tropical Storm Grace on Aug. 16 after a 7.2 earthquake destroyed homes and devastated the country. (Yvon Vilius, Joshua Carroll/The Washington Post)
UNICEF has estimated that the powerful earthquake affected about 1.2 million people, including 540,000 children. Schools, bridges and medical facilities collapsed.
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UNICEF’s representative in Haiti, Bruno Maes, shared a video of the scene, saying “countless Haitian families who have lost everything due to the earthquake are now living literally with their feet in the water due to the flooding.”
Saturday’s earthquake compounded woes in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, already struggling with a coronavirus outbreak, gang violence and political turmoil after the assassination of President Jovenel Mo?se last month.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday the United Nations set aside $8 million in emergency funds for healthcare, water and shelter in the country calling for countries to step up foreign aid to prevent a “humanitarian disaster."
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