The UN is warning that the anti-UN riots that have sprung up in a number of cities are undermining efforts to contain the cholera epidemic.
It is hard to identify a single villain when poor living conditions are to blame. But the fact is, cholera became epidemic because of the combustible combination of a weak government, poverty, crowded and unsanitary living conditions -- all made worse by the earthquake and then, Hurricane Tomas.
I blogginheaded with Mac McClelland, human rights reporter for Mother Jones. Mac has reported from both Burma and Haiti. We discuss the recent elections in Burma and Haiti's ongoing crises.
The Clinton Foundation just posted this video of President Clinton giving an update on Haiti reconstruction efforts.
The last cholera epidemic in the Western Hemisphere began in Peru in 1991 and spread to some 16 other countries, from Argentina to Canada. In Peru alone, the epidemic produced more than 650,000 cases over six years.
According to the latest projections from NOAA, the storm should pass in about six hours or so. In the meantime, storm surges, an overflowing river, and pounding rain are wreaking the kind of havoc that we've been expecting all week.
On Friday, we will find out what happens when a hurricane pounds a country in which 1.3 million people live in tents. Between the cholera epidemic, the earthquake and the storm, aid workers, government, the Haitian people are struggling to cope with three concurrent humanitarian emergencies.
Tomas is teetering between hurricane, tropical storm and tropical depression status. No matter what the prefix, Haiti is in the direct path of what is shaping up to be a very violent storm.
The UN and Haitian officials are rushing to prepare for Hurricane Tomas. The United States has even mustered a battleship to the area. Haiti just cannot seem to catch a break.