UN to the Rescue as Flood Waters Engulf South Haiti

Haiti: UN Peacekeepers to the Rescue as Flood Waters Engulf Country’s South

New York, Oct 12 2011 - United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti have evacuated dozens of people from their homes and placed them in temporary shelters as flood waters rise across the country’s south after more than four days of torrential rain.

Blue helmets, working with local officials, helped rescue 70 people, including 30 children, from towns near the south-western city of Les Cayes, according to a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

Those rescued join hundreds of others who have sought temporary shelter as rising waters engulf or damage their homes.

MINUSTAH said it remains on alert to assist authorities across the affected region in case of further rescue or the distribution of aid.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported yesterday that at least two people have been reported missing since the heavy rains began, and there are fears that the floods could lead to fresh outbreaks of cholera.

Haiti has been hit hard by cholera over the past year, with nearly 6,500 people dying from the disease. But the death rate had been declining recently before the floods.

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

ENDS

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