PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – A storm with high winds killed five people, including two children, as it tore through thousands of tents housing people left homeless by Haiti’s massive Jan. 12 earthquake, a senior official said yesterday.
The tornado-like storm on Friday afternoon toppled or shredded 5,878 of the tents and tarpaulins in homeless camps and makeshift shelters across the chaotic capital Port-au-Prince, Haitian Civil Protection Director Alta Jean-Baptiste told Reuters.
The fast-passing storm toppled numerous trees and power poles. Jean-Baptiste said the five people killed by debris included a girl and a boy.
At least 50 people were injured, she said.
Eight months after the magnitude 7 quake that shattered large parts of Port-au-Prince, killing up to 300,000 people, the international aid community has faced criticism that efforts to clear rubble and relocate survivors from makeshift camps have been slow to materialize.
