Death Toll In Haiti From Jeanne Passes 3,000 - Reuters

[hatrack]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - "Haiti's death toll from last month's devastating flooding rose to more than 3,000 this week, according to government officials who released what they believe is the final death tally.

Tropical Storm Jeanne swept north of Haiti nearly three weeks ago and lashed the Caribbean nation with heavy rains that triggered massive flooding and mudslides and washed away whole villages.
Haiti's secretary of state for environment, Yves Andre Wainright, said those killed in the flooding numbered 3,006 and included 2,826 in the mud-crusted coastal city of Gonaives.

The toll has climbed steadily as rescue workers reached remote areas and recovered bodies buried in the mud. Wainright and a government official in Gonaives, Carl Murat Cantave, said those missing since the floods struck were now presumed dead, and they did not expect the toll to rise further.

In Geneva this week, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies nearly tripled its aid appeal for Haiti, and said $9.2 million was urgently needed to avert a humanitarian crisis."

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/27574/story.htm

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Terrible

If they found 2826 victims in Gonaives alone, the death toll will probably continue to rise for some weeks, and may well double -- a large number of poor Haitians live outside the city, and these areas will not be cleared and examined until far into the Winter.

If you're the praying kind, keep Haiti in your prayers.

I myself am not the praying kind. Still, I fear that there will be hell for us to pay in the "developed world" as well.

--bkl