Hurricane Thomas worsens cholera epidemic in Haiti

Monday, November 8, 2010

The flooding caused by hurricane Tomas worsened the sanitary situation in Haiti, which has been affected by a cholera epidemic with 501 people being killed.

This was reported by the Haitian Public Health Ministry.

According to information from Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, Artibonite department in the north of the country has been the most affected by cholera epidemic, where 371 people were killed by the disease.

The Haitian authorities launched an international campaign to face this epidemic, which has mainly affected Artibonite and Plateau Central but began to spread across the country due to hurricane Tomas.

The Health Ministry said that in the west of the country, 20 people have been killed by cholera.

In Port-au-Prince, more than one million people live in shelters, as they lost their homes after the strong earthquake in January. They are enduring the lack of clean water, the polluted food, the collapsed sanitary system and the flooding caused by Tomas now.