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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley09052008.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley09052008.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>September 5, 2008<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>From Haiti to
Louisiana <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Gustav's Path of Destruction
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By BILL
QUIGLEY <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">H</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>urricane Gustav killed 18 people in Louisiana
and displaced 1.9 million. Over 800,000 homes are without
electricity, nearly half the state, and some will not see power for up to
a month. <br>
<br>
In Haiti, Gustav killed 77 with another 8 missing and damaged nearly
15,000 homes. Tropical storm Hanna, which closely followed Gustav,
killed at least another 60 people. Tens of thousands of people have
sought safety on rooftops and temporary shelters. Rotting cows
drift in the flood waters. <br>
<br>
Louisiana is the poorest state in the U.S., home to nearly 4 million
people, with per capita income of around $16,000 per year. Haiti is
the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, home to nearly 9 million
people, with a per capita income of less than $400 per year. <br>
<br>
In Louisiana, gas and water are scarce. On Thursday September 4,
2008, authorities reported a 3 mile line of people waiting for food and
water outside of New Orleans. The evacuation of 1.9 million people
in Louisiana went relatively smoothly. The return has been much
more difficult. <br>
<br>
Reports from community organizations in Haiti say people have not eaten
since Monday. Melinda Miles from Konpay reported: “Twenty four
hours of rain drenching the huts of the poor, perched on the cliffs, and
drowning the slums, huddled on the edge of the sea. Homes were washed
away by overflowing rivers, and others had flash floods tear through
their walls. Fields of plantain trees are now stagnant puddles – breeding
ground for mosquitoes – and agricultural fields were destroyed throughout
the region. Almond trees floated into the sea and coconut trees were
uprooted.”<br>
<br>
Tens of thousands of people in Louisiana remain displaced. A
thousand people in one shelter reported there were no bathing facilities
at all. People washed up in a bucket. Another shelter
reported 30 people arrested outside a nearby convenience store.
Buses will start bringing people back on Friday. <br>
<br>
Haiti was in deep trouble before being hit by a series of storms.
Hunger is widespread. Sky high food prices sparked riots and
turmoil as people could not afford to purchase enough food.
<br>
<br>
Louisiana had not yet recovered from Hurricane Katrina, three years
ago. New Orleans still has over 65,000 vacant and abandoned homes
and over 100,000 fewer people since Katrina. Many of the elderly,
disabled and African-American working poor remain displaced. <br>
<br>
"There is no food, no water, no clothes," the pastor of a
church in Gonaives, Arnaud Dumas told the Associated Press. "I
want to know what I'm supposed to do. ... We haven't found anything to
eat in two, three days. Nothing at all."<br>
<br>
Critics question why prisoners in New Orleans were returned by public
transportation days before tens of thousands of citizens had the same
opportunity. <br>
<br>
President Rene Preval of Haiti told Reuters, “We are in a really
catastrophic situation. There are a lot of people on rooftops and
there are prisoners we cannot guard.” In Gonaives, a city of
160,000, half the homes remain flooded, according to UN troops.
People begged for food and water outside the UN troop base. <br>
<br>
"All and all, the response has been excellent," U.S. President
Bush told the nation. The U.S. Embassy in Haiti announced it was
releasing $100,000 in emergency aid to Haiti. <br>
<br>
In Haiti, the situation is critical. “If they don’t have food, it
can be dangerous,” Haitian Senator Youri Latortue told the AP.
“They can’t wait.”<br>
<br>
“We expect a surge of evictions and power cutoffs,” said Brother Don
Everard of Hope House, a social service agency in New Orleans.
“People were having trouble making rent and utilities before evacuating
for Gustav, now it will be worse because they have spent all their money
to evacuate.” <br>
<br>
Haiti is 1300 miles away from New Orleans. Other hurricanes are now
approaching the Caribbean.<br><br>
<b>Bill Quigley</b> is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola
University New Orleans. Bill has visited Haiti nearly 20 times in
his human rights work. People who would like to make a financial
contribution to the emergency needs of poor people in Louisiana and Haiti
can send a check to Hope House, 916 St. Andrew, c/o Brother Don Everard,
Haiti-Louisiana Emergency Fund, 916 St. Andrew St. New Orleans, LA
70118. Any funds received will be given directly to poor people,
half to those in Haiti and half to those in Louisiana. Contributions to
Hope House are tax deductible under 501c3 of the tax code. Contact
Bill directly at
<a href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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