Nearly 900 people killed in Haiti, fears of cholera outbreak and panic as crops are wiped out following hurricane.
The full scale of the devastation in rural parts of
storm-hit Haiti became clear as the death toll soared to nearly 900
three days after Hurricane Matthew levelled huge swaths of the country's
south.
As Matthew threatened the US coast on Saturday, US President Barack Obama urged Americans to mobilise in support of Haiti, where a million people were in need of assistance after the latest disaster to strike the western hemisphere's poorest nation.
The number of deaths in Haiti surged to at least 877 late on Friday as information trickled in from remote areas previously cut off by the storm, according to a Reuters tally of death tolls given by officials. Authorities expec the death toll to rise even further.
While the capital and biggest city, Port-au-Prince, was largely spared, the south suffered devastation.
Aerial footage from the hardest-hit towns showed a ruined landscape of metal shanties with roofs blown away and downed trees everywhere. Brown mud from overflowing rivers covered the ground.
Herve Fourcand, a senator for the Sud department, which felt the full force of Matthew's impact, said several localities were still cut off by flooding and mudslides.
A scene of desolation greeted visitors to Jeremie, a town of 30,000 people left inaccessible until Friday.
"Thousands of houses have been destroyed, and there is not enough food and drinking water," Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from a Jeremie, said.
At one of the town's poorly-equipped medical centres, doctors said they are desperate for help.
"We don't have anything; no bandages, no penicillin," Dr Dessous, of the Saint Antoine hospital, told Al Jazeera. "We had to sent people home because we couldn't treat them here."
"One of the biggest fears here is the threat of cholera," said Al Jazeera's Bo, citing a cholera epidemic introduced by UN peacekeepers following Haiti's 2010 devastating earthquake.
"Thousands of people have previously died because of this disease."
Watch: Haiti: After the Quake
In one ward, at least 12 patients had cholera, five of them children.
The Pan American Health Organization said on Thursday it was preparing for a possible cholera surge in Haiti after the hurricane because the flooding was likely to contaminate water supplies.
Residents of the town were also concerned about their crops, levelled by Matthew's heavy rain and winds.
"We already didn't have enough food, now we have lost our crops," Junot Clerveau told Al Jazeera. "We have lost our trees that give us mangoes and coconuts. I don't know how we're going to deal with this."
On the aid effort, Mourad Wahba, of the UN Mission in Haiti, told Al Jazeera: "We would like the Hatian government to be the coordinating authority. We don't want to repeat the experience of confusion of 2010."
The Caribbean nation was struck by its strongest earthquake in more than 200 years six years ago, causing a catastrophe and killing more than 220,000 people. Back then, political wrangling stalled reconstruction efforts.
As Matthew threatened the US coast on Saturday, US President Barack Obama urged Americans to mobilise in support of Haiti, where a million people were in need of assistance after the latest disaster to strike the western hemisphere's poorest nation.
The number of deaths in Haiti surged to at least 877 late on Friday as information trickled in from remote areas previously cut off by the storm, according to a Reuters tally of death tolls given by officials. Authorities expec the death toll to rise even further.
While the capital and biggest city, Port-au-Prince, was largely spared, the south suffered devastation.
Aerial footage from the hardest-hit towns showed a ruined landscape of metal shanties with roofs blown away and downed trees everywhere. Brown mud from overflowing rivers covered the ground.
Herve Fourcand, a senator for the Sud department, which felt the full force of Matthew's impact, said several localities were still cut off by flooding and mudslides.
A scene of desolation greeted visitors to Jeremie, a town of 30,000 people left inaccessible until Friday.
"Thousands of houses have been destroyed, and there is not enough food and drinking water," Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from a Jeremie, said.
At one of the town's poorly-equipped medical centres, doctors said they are desperate for help.
"We don't have anything; no bandages, no penicillin," Dr Dessous, of the Saint Antoine hospital, told Al Jazeera. "We had to sent people home because we couldn't treat them here."
Cholera threat
But it's not just the lack of medicine and equipment threatening Jeremie's hurricane-hit residents - disease is also a major hazard for the people living here."One of the biggest fears here is the threat of cholera," said Al Jazeera's Bo, citing a cholera epidemic introduced by UN peacekeepers following Haiti's 2010 devastating earthquake.
"Thousands of people have previously died because of this disease."
Watch: Haiti: After the Quake
In one ward, at least 12 patients had cholera, five of them children.
The Pan American Health Organization said on Thursday it was preparing for a possible cholera surge in Haiti after the hurricane because the flooding was likely to contaminate water supplies.
Residents of the town were also concerned about their crops, levelled by Matthew's heavy rain and winds.
"We already didn't have enough food, now we have lost our crops," Junot Clerveau told Al Jazeera. "We have lost our trees that give us mangoes and coconuts. I don't know how we're going to deal with this."
On the aid effort, Mourad Wahba, of the UN Mission in Haiti, told Al Jazeera: "We would like the Hatian government to be the coordinating authority. We don't want to repeat the experience of confusion of 2010."
The Caribbean nation was struck by its strongest earthquake in more than 200 years six years ago, causing a catastrophe and killing more than 220,000 people. Back then, political wrangling stalled reconstruction efforts.
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