Death Toll In Haiti Tops 1,000, Another 1,200 Feared Dead

GONAIVES, Haiti (AFP) - The death toll from devastating floods in northern Haiti topped 1,000, with another 1,200 missing and possibly dead, and more than 900 injured, a UN spokesman in the impoverished nation said.
And with relief agencies battling mud and high water to get aid to a quarter of a million people affected by the flooding, tension rose in the city of Gonaives where famished residents tried to plunder trucks carrying emergency supplies, another UN official said.
"Our official toll at this stage is 1,013 people dead, 1,200 missing and 918 wounded," said Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, the spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission that is playing a key role in the relief efforts.
He said that in view of the high number of people missing and feared dead, the death toll was certain to rise further.
Most of the fatalities were in the northern city of Gonaives, where many streets remained under water Wednesday, four days after Hurricane Jeanne caused deadly floods and mudslides in the Caribbean nation.
"As waters go down, we are finding more bodies," Kongo-Doudou told AFP.
Numerous bodies were believed to be buried in the mud, or under floodwaters. Others washed out to sea.
With human remains rotting away in the sweltering heat and piled up in morgues that have no electricity for refrigeration, officials started burying the dead in mass graves.
Because morgues are full and in some cases difficult to reach, "people are starting to dump bodies in front of the UN compound," said Kongo-Doudou.
The stench was almost unbearable in Gonaives, where carcasses of goats and cows littered the ground and open sewers spewed into the streets.
With huge numbers of people having lost everything and lacking access to food and clean water, tension was rising rapidly as relief trickled into the area.
"There were attempts to attack relief supplies containers" said Francoise Gruloos, who heads the UN Children`s Fund (UNICEF) mission in Haiti.
Several UNICEF officials who traveled to Gonaives on an assessment mission Wednesday had to be pulled out early as the security situation deteriorated, she said.
Other officials said residents of the disaster-struck city were growing increasingly angry that emergency aid is so slow in arriving.
With the airport completely flooded, no planes can land in the city. A first convoy of food-laden trucks arrived in Gonaives Tuesday night, but two of the 12 vehicles sent in from Port-au-Prince toppled over in deep water just outside the city.
Several other vehicles were trapped in mud or floodwaters.
The UN peacekeepers themselves were affected by the floods, which destroyed part of the barracks of the Argentine contingent in Gonaives.
"Three hundred of them lost their housing and many lost personal belongings," said Kongo-Doudou. "Despite this they are continuing to work, participating in the collection of bodies and manning a small improvised clinic," he said.
In New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed for more aid.
Aid was already flowing into the country from Canada, Brazil, France and Venezuela, while the European Union, Switzerland, the United States and others pledged emergency funds.
Food and clean water were top priorities, officials said. Also on the list of emergency supplies needed in the area were bodybags and medical supplies.
"Given the contamination of water sources and the flooding of latrines, there are concerns about possible outbreaks of water-related diseases," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.
Relief officials said rebuilding Gonaives` Providence hospital would be a crucial task.
The hospital was ravaged by the floods, and witnesses said that about 250 of the 300 patients were killed or were missing. "We could only save the babies we carried to the roof," said nurse Helelald Wilner.
Security concerns were heightened by the fact many policemen deserted their posts and hundreds of prisoners escaped in Gonaives during the floods.
Despite the deployment of nearly 3,000 UN peacekeepers, crime has risen in Haiti since former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the country in Feburary under pressure from armed insurgents as well as the US and French governments.
The poorest nation in the western hemisphere, Haiti had been further impoverished by flooding that killed more than 1,200 people in May, as well as civil strife that left dozens dead earlier in the year.