At least more than 800 people have been confirmed dead in Haiti after the deadly Hurricane Matthew swept through the Island Nation.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere has experienced a catastrophic natural occurrence that killed at least 877 people and left thousands wounded physically and emotionally. The death toll is expected to rise as more areas become accessible.
“One of our physicians on a helicopter over the hardest hit areas said there are villages that just don’t exist anymore,” Ralph McDaniel, executive director of Ayiti Air Anbilans, the country’s only helicopter ambulance service, said from Port au Prince to CNN
The storm hit the nation on Tuesday but it was until Thursday that bodies started showing up when water levels started receding. Most of the fatalities were in towns and fishing villages around the western end of Tiburon peninsula in Haiti’s southwest, with many victims killed by falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers.
Authorities in Haiti postpone the presidential election scheduled for Sunday because of the calamity.
Hurricane Matthew has left 350,000 people in need of assistance. The country’s civil protection authority said that 186 people were injured and more than 61,000 people were in 192 temporary shelters.
Africans took to social media to stand with the people of Haiti. Here are some tweets
God help the citizens of Haiti. 2010 was bad enough, let alone the fact they were still suffering from the aftermath. Now this #PrayForHaiti
— 𝙹𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚑 (@Jeandre_Goliath) October 8, 2016
R.I.P. to all 841 people killed in Haiti by hurricane Matthew 🇭🇹🙏🏿
— KE•YETTA (@KeyettaH_) October 8, 2016
Good morning people. As you put Nigeria in prayers, don't also forget Haiti, heard death toll has increased to 877 amidst #HurricaneMatthew
— Slimfit (@iSlimfit) October 8, 2016
The amount of people who have lost their lives/now homeless from Hurricane Mathew is alarming, God please be with Haiti.
— Sally Suleiman (@is_salsu) October 8, 2016
https://twitter.com/ImTawanda/status/784636488424316929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
