Tropical storm slams into quake-hit Haiti

A tropical storm has heaped more misery on Haitians already battling the aftermath of Saturday's 7.2 magnitude quake.

The heavy rainfall brought by the weather system called Grace has complicated relief efforts.

Foreign aid workers had been trying to help Haitian authorities treat the wounded as the storm struck.

There has been flooding in at least one area and the hope of finding survivors from the weekend's disaster which killed over 1,400 people, is fading.

Hospitals in the towns of Les Cayes and Jeremie have struggled to cope with more than 6,000 people who were injured by the quake that saw over 13,000 homes collapsing, many in unreachable rural areas.

How bad is the situation on the ground?

The quake on Saturday hit Les Cayes especially hard, with cement buildings collapsing in the 100,000 strong seaside city.

Its hospital was partially destroyed and its neonatal intensive care unit had to be evacuated recently over fears it would collapse, with the injured lining the streets in makeshift shelters.

Similar situations were registered in Jeremie to the north of Les Cayes at the tip of the peninsula.

The tremors destroyed over 7,000 homes and damaged 5,000 others, making 30,000 families homeless.

Schools, offices and churches were also in a bad state, forcing people to live in tents and take shelter under trees.

What are authorities doing?

"From this Monday, we will move faster. Aid provision is going to be accelerated," recently appointed interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry wrote on Twitter.

"We will multiply efforts tenfold to reach as many victims as possible with aid."

Aid workers and doctors arrived from the US and the Caribbean, determined to help the wounded.

But they were met with sometimes insurmountable obstacles.

"Basically, they need everything," said Inobert Pierre, a pediatrician with the nonprofit Health Equity International, which oversees St. Boniface Hospital, about two hours from Les Cayes.

"Many of the patients have open wounds and they have been exposed to not-so-clean elements," added Pierre, after visiting a hospital with 200 patients and another with 90.

"We anticipate a lot of infections."

What challenges are rescuers facing?

Tropical depression Grace was expected to bring upwards of 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain.

In turn, this newest disaster could bring the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera to the 5,700 wounded people, many who did not even have their own homes anymore.

"This disaster coincides with political instability, rising gang violence, alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

On top of all these factors, Fore said there was "the COVID-19 pandemic — for which Haiti has received just 500,000 vaccine doses, despite requiring far more.''

Other than the health issues, Haiti also has a political system in disarray after the assassination of President Moise Jovanel and many areas of the country are under the control of gangs.

These factors, combined with the poorest economy in the western hemisphere, have made communication and logistics an even greater challenge.

kb,jc/msh (Reuters, AP)