Hurricane Tomas update

PIH Chief of Mission Dr. Louise Ivers is on the ground in Haiti. She sent the following update on Friday afternoon:

We continue to cautiously monitor the situation at all sites where we have activities including in the Artibonite, Central Plateau and in Port-au-Prince. What we see so far throughout the regions where we work is not a physical destruction caused by wind, but a serious compounding of the destitute misery that we have seen since the earthquake.

The living conditions are inhumane at the camp in Parc Jean Marie Vincent, and they are not much better at Dadadou. Displaced persons, having no other option but to stay out the storm in their flimsy shelters are today struggling with the persistent steady rain and the mud and flooding in the bottom of their dwellings. The Zanmi Lasante team has been out since this morning doing mobile clinics in the camps in Port-au-Prince. In the Artibonite, teams continue to care for patients with cholera and pursue their outreach activities as safely as they can .

At the hospital in St. Marc, Dr. Almazor and the rest of the ZL team are coordinating the flow of patients who come for emergency care. The storm's epicenter continues to move in a northerly direction and as it thankfully moved to the west we should be spared high winds. However, as steady, heavy rain continues for the next number of hours, we remain alert to the possibility of flash flooding.

Thanks for standing with us. More info to come.

Kenbe Fem,

Louise Ivers
PIH Chief of Mission, Haiti