Challenges still loom in Haiti despite increased flow of aid

for the victims of a powerful earthquake and tropical storm began flowing more quickly into Haiti on Thursday, but the Caribbean nation’s entrenched poverty, insecurity and lack of basic infrastructure were still presenting huge challenges to getting food and urgent medical care to all those who need it.

Private relief supplies and shipments from the U.S. government and others were arriving in the southwestern peninsula where the weekend quake struck, killing more than 2,100 people. But the need was extreme, made worse by the rain from tropical storm Grace, and people were growing frustrated with the slow pace.

Adding to the problems, a major hospital in the capital of Port-au-Prince, where injured from the quake zone in the southwestern peninsula were being sent, was closed Thursday for a two-day shutdown to protest the kidnapping of two doctors, including one of the country’s few orthopedic surgeons.

The abductions dealt a major blow to attempts to control criminal violence that has threatened disaster response efforts in Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency late Wednesday raised the number of deaths from the earthquake to 2,189 and said 12,268 people were injured. An estimated 300 people are still missing, said Serge Chery, head of civil defence for the Southern Province, which includes the hard-hit town of Les Cayes.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 homes, leaving about 30,000 families homeless, according to official estimates. Hospitals, schools, offices and churches also were demolished or badly damaged.

The U.S. has deployed several heavylift helicopters and other aircraft to move relief supplies and personnel to the disaster zone and has dispatched the USS Arlington to provide additional transportation and medical capabilities, Maj.-Gen. Hank Taylor told reporters at the Pentagon.

One of the U.S. helicopters landed Thursday in Les Cayes with equipment, medicine and volunteers, including some from the aid group Samaritan’s Purse. Monte Oitker, a biomedical technician with the organization, said volunteers were prepared to operate a selfcontained hospital unit, capable of handling a variety of orthopedic procedures.

Distributing aid to the thousands left homeless will be more challenging. Chery said officials are hoping to start clearing sites where homes were destroyed to allow residents to build temporary shelters.