Places Not To Be

by Michael Bear · 2008-11-12 01:24:00 UTC
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[School collapse in Haiti - Footage from CNN; contains graphic images]

A quick look at those ongoing humanitarian emergencies which tend to pass unnoticed - or, put another way, places not to be, unless you have a choice in the matter:

Gaza

The UN has warned that it will have to halt food distributions to 750,000 people in Gaza by Thursday night, unless Israel re-opens border crossings for humanitarian supplies.  A spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported that the agency's warehouses are almost out of wheat, meat, powdered milk and cooking oil.

Israel sealed the crossings last week in response to Hamas rocket fire against Israeli towns.

Haiti

After hurricanes devastated the country earlier this fall - killing at least 790 people and affecting as many as one million nationwide - Haiti suffered a further tragedy this past Friday, when a school in Pétionville collapsed during classes.  According to the most recent OCHA Situation Report, the collapse killed at least 93 people, the majority of them children, and wounded 150. 

Haitian, French and American rescue teams have been working at the site, but hopes of finding more survivors are fading.  For more information, see here. 

Honduras

As noted in an earlier post, flooding caused by tropical storms in late October and early November affected as many as 320,000 people, and destroyed roughly half the country's crops.  An estimated sixty people have died.  Aid workers say that it's the worst disaster to strike Honduras since Hurricane Mitch in 1998. 

Yemen

Massive flooding in late October killed at least 190 people, and forced over 20,000 people to flee their homes.  The floods also damaged water and sewage systems, prompting health workers to warn of possible outbreaks of malaria, cholera, polio and acute diarrhoea.

Michael Bear
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