Rains kill 20 in Haiti; cholera rampant

Heavy rains force residents from homes, tent citiesCivil protection: At least 20 people in greater Port-au-Prince died in torrential rainsThe rainy season has triggered more cases of cholera"The situation continues to deteriorate," the director of CARE in Haiti says

(CNN) -- At least 20 people have died due to torrential downpours in Haiti, authorities said Tuesday, and aid agencies are scrambling to respond to a resurgence of cholera triggered by the heavy rain.

The rainfall has forced residents to evacuate from homes and tent cities, and created a fertile breeding ground for the bacteria that causes cholera.

The Pan American Health Organization warned the situation in Port-au-Prince continues to deteriorate and most cholera treatment centers are working at "full throttle."

The Haitian Ministry of Public Health has reported 321,066 cases since the beginning of the outbreak last October, including 5,337 deaths. The latest numbers available, however, were as of May 29.

Samaritan's Purse, which is one of the many aid agencies that has set up cholera clinics, was receiving more than 300 sickened people a day over the weekend, said Roseann Dennery, the group's communications director.

"We've been hit really hard with rains lately, so we are preparing for more of the same this week," she said.

The areas most impacted by the heavy rainfall include Port-au-Prince and the Nippes region in the south of the country, said Emmanuelle Schneider, spokeswoman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

At least 20 people in greater Port-au-Prince died in rains that started Monday evening and continued until early Tuesday morning, the country's civil protection department said.

Six people were injured in Monday night's downpour, the department said, and at least 470 families in Port-au-Prince's Cite Soleil slum were affected.

And more rain is on the way.

Additional rain was expected to hit Haiti Tuesday night, Schneider said.

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center has said the 2011 hurricane season is likely to bring a higher than normal number of storms in the Atlantic basin.

Cholera is caused by drinking tainted water and its symptoms can range from mild or even nonexistent to profuse diarrhea and vomiting. It's not difficult to deal with the disease but if left untreated, death from dehydration can come within a matter of hours.

"The situation continues to deteriorate," said Beat Rohr, director of CARE in Haiti. "We never stopped sensitizing the population about the importance of clean water and the need to wash their hands regularly. But it won't be enough."

Journalist Ross Velton contributed to this report.

CNN

New president takes power in struggling Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Charismatic pop star-turned-president Michel Martelly took over Haiti on Saturday, promising to rebuild its earthquake-devastated capital, develop the long-neglected countryside and build a modern army.

Haiti's new President Michel Martelly stands with his wife Sophia and their children as the Haitian national anthem is played in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday.

The 50-year-old performer known to Haitians as "Sweet Micky" was swept to power in a March 20 presidential runoff by Haitians tired of past leaders who failed to provide even basic services, such as decent roads, water and electricity in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

Martelly was sworn in during a power outage in front of dozens of dignitaries including former U.S. president Bill Clinton, the U.N.'s special envoy to Haiti, and Edmond Mulet, head of the U.N. mission that has maintained order in Haiti since 2004. Also present was Desi Bouterse, the president of Suriname who is on trial for the 1982 executions of 15 political opponents.

Former Haiti President Rene Preval took off the presidential sash and put it on Martelly as they shook hands and embraced, but did not say anything to each other. Martelly's wife, Sophia, then came on stage and adjusted the sash as their four children joined them.

Martelly did not speak as he left Parliament for the National Palace, where was to deliver a speech.

Outside the gated Parliament, more than 1,000 Martelly supporters gathered.

"Today is a party for us, for the masses, because the country is destroyed," said Esaue Rene, a 28-year-old mechanic who has high hopes for Martelly. "I would like him to bring jobs so that people aren't sitting around in public plazas because they don't have anything else to do."

Martelly appealed to young voters like Rene because he is the antithesis of Preval, who is seen as aloof and uninspiring. Martelly is effusive and charming. He once joked that he'd dance naked atop the National Palace if he were elected president.

But the challenges Martelly faces in fulfilling his ambitious promises were clear Saturday. He was sworn in front of the country's collapsed National Palace and a shantytown filled with thousands of people displaced by last year's magnitude-7.0 earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000 people.

During his campaign, he promised to build houses in the capital; bring economic development to the countryside; provide universal education for children; develop agriculture; and replace the discredited armed forces with a modern army capable of responding to natural disasters. The previous discredited army was disbanded by ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995.

Political observers say speeding up the multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort is paramount. That means Martelly's administration must make progress building houses for the more than 600,000 people still living in settlements; stem a cholera epidemic that threatens to spread during the rainy and hurricane seasons; and strengthen the judiciary. And a parliament controlled by political opponents from Preval's party could make passing bills difficult.

He must he do all this quickly.

"His administration will have to show progress fairly quickly in order to provide confidence to the population," said Mark Schneider, senior vice president of the International Crisis Group in Washington, D.C.

Martelly will lead a country still divided over the presidential election itself. He was initially excluded from the runoff in favor of a candidate backed by Preval, only to be restored after the international community challenged the results.

One sign of the division: Martelly's opponents have recently alleged that he holds dual Haitian-U.S. citizenship, which would disqualify him for the presidency. He denies the allegation.

In what some view as a reconciliation effort, Martelly has invited to the inauguration both Aristide and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the former dictator who made a surprise return to Haiti in January. Neither of them attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Since Duvalier came back, the ex-despot has been charged with embezzlement and human rights abuses, and advocacy groups have criticized Martelly for inviting him.

"Martelly's facing the need to knit together a polarized country," Schneider said. "Haiti just went through an election which was riven by discord, disagreement, and unhappiness. And given the makeup of the parliament, he has the major task of forging a national government."

In the weeks since Haitian authorities declared him the winner, Martelly has toured the countryside to learn more about reconstruction projects, announced ways to finance free education, and formed a transition team, led by Duvalier's former social affairs minister, Daniel Supplice.

Martelly was well-known as an entertainer. But what kind of leader he makes, many in Haiti aren't sure.

"He's unpredictable," said Patrick Elie, a defense minister under Aristide and an adviser to Preval. "He's got teeth that can both smile and bite. He's shown that."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Haiti again feels pinch of rising food prices

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Marie Bolivar, a gray-haired woman with a raspy voice, crushes peanuts into paste for sandwiches which she sells by the roadside for 12 cents apiece. These days the paste is thinner, because the price of peanuts has jumped by 80 percent.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} By Ramon Espinosa, AP

A man carries five sacks of rice at the La Saline Market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 21.

By Ramon Espinosa, AP

A man carries five sacks of rice at the La Saline Market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 21.

But Bolivar, 60, says she still has trouble feeding her four children and paying the rent. "I can't survive like this," she said on a recent afternoon as she piled freshly crushed peanuts on a small plastic tray.

Soaring food prices aren't new in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and heavily dependent on imports. Now those prices are rising again, mirroring global trends, while the cost of gasoline has doubled to $5 a gallon. Haitians are paying more for basic staples than much of Latin America and the Caribbean, an Associated Press survey finds.

More than half of Haiti's 10 million people get by on less than $2 a day and hundreds of thousands are dependent on handouts. Undernourished children are easy to spot by the orange tinge in their hair. "Haitians have less room to increase their expenditures on their food," said Myrta Kaulard, Haiti's country director for the U.N. World Food Program. "This is a serious concern."

Bolivar is one of many who cope as roadside vendors. They are getting squeezed from both ends ? rising prices and customers with less to spend.

It's ironic to hear Bolivar say "Everything was much easier a year ago," when a year ago Haiti had just endured a quake that killed 300,000 people and laid waste to large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince. What she means is that food was much cheaper then because of the emergency supplies being rushed in.

But as the aid operation scales back and the market reasserts itself, prices are soaring again. Last month a cab strike was called to protest rising gasoline prices, but it fizzled because drivers were so desperate for fares.

One bit of good news has been the price of rice, Haiti's staple food. Pushed down by the free food being shipped in after the earthquake, it fell to $0.92 a kilogram in September, climbed to $1.38 in January and then began to fall, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

But corn, which cost $0.68 a kilogram just before the quake, was almost double the price in March.

Incomes haven't risen, however. The minimum wage is $5 a day but most Haitians don't have a job that would pay them that minimum. So, like Bolivar, they cope through "degaje," a Creole term that means "making do."

It also depends where they shop. In a high-end grocery, a kilogram of white rice can cost as much as $3.03. But the street markets close after dusk, leaving customers dependent on supermarkets.

Nature and the outside world have all taken their toll. Erosion, deforestation, flooding and tropical storms make farming difficult. American imports are stiff competition for farmers. Haiti imports nearly all of its food, including more than 80 percent of its rice, known here as "Miami Rice." A whole chicken costs $8 in Haiti ? double the price in Peru. Argentines earn much more than Haitians, but pay less for a kilogram of rice.

The rise of garment factories in the cities since the 1970s has denuded the countryside of working hands. Bolivar is among those who moved here. She lives in a small cinderblock home in a slum in the relatively affluent city of Petionville.

"There was nothing for me in the countryside," she said.

The winding down of quake aid is meant in part to encourage quake survivors to leave their camps and to stabilize market prices. Groups such as the WFP have launched cash-for-work programs, school meals to ensure attendance, and efforts to get aid workers to purchase goods locally.

But for Bolivar, it's the cost of living that overshadows everything. She says she usually eats just once a day. One of her sons had to drop out of school because she owed $69 for two months of his tuition.

A daughter helps out from her earnings as a waitress at a Lebanese restaurant popular among Haiti's moneyed class and foreign aid workers.

Bolivar said she hopes things will get better under Michel Martelly, the musician elected as president on March 20. "We're waiting for all the promises he made," Bolivar said. "People want commercial activity. People want jobs. People want to eat."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

USATODAY.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.