Haiti Earthquake Tensions. The BBC reports that five days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 2,189 people in Haiti help is trickling in, but struggling people say they need it more quickly.
Rescue crews are still digging through rubble in a search for survivors, as the stench of death fills the air.
“We are preparing for a public health disaster,” says Nadesha Mijoba of the Haitian Health Foundation.
“The sanitation situation is quite critical… we hope that we don’t have an outbreak of cholera” Ms. Mijoba also warned BBC News.
Since the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the island on Saturday, the US military has transported at least 200 severely injured people to the hospital.
Despite rainy conditions, many people have been sleeping outside due to fears that aftershocks could cause more buildings to collapse.
We are afraid to go inside, so we sleep on the ground in the street,” one person in the hard-hit region of Les Cayes told BBC News.
“I don’t have a job, I don’t have water, I don’t have food. My house was destroyed, there is nothing” said another woman.
Haiti Earthquake Tensions
Around 53,000 homes were destroyed in the quake, with about 77,000 more damaged.
The US Army is preparing to set up a field hospital in Les Cayes. The US and British Navy are also each sending ships to help with rescue and recovery efforts.
