Storm Brings More Misery to Earthquake Survivors

But 16 were found alive in collapsed building
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 17, 2021 7:15 PM CDT
16 Found Alive in Rubble 3 Days After Haiti Quake
A man sits in front of a collapsed funeral home in Les Cayes, Haiti, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021, two days after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern part of the country.   (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

The death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti Saturday has risen to almost 2,000, but authorities haven't given up hopes of finding survivors. On Tuesday, 16 people were found alive in the rubble of a building in the southern town of Brefet, the Haitian Times reports. Another nine were found dead in the collapsed building, the former regional office of a UN peacekeeping mission. Search and rescue efforts, however, have been disrupted by Tropical Storm Grace, which passed over Haiti Monday and Tuesday, the New York Times reports. Heavy rains added to the misery for people sleeping in fields because their homes had been destroyed or damaged.

Officials say the 7.2 quake destroyed or damaged thousands of homes, leaving around 30,000 families homeless. Officials raised the death toll Tuesday to 1,941, with almost 10,000 injured Carl-Henry Petit-Frère, a field manager for Save the Children, says children orphaned by the quake are going hungry, the AP reports. "I see children crying on the street, people asking us for food, but we are low on food ourselves as well," he says. Petit-Frère says organizations are doing what they can, but they desperately need supplies including food and fresh water. The US military says seven helicopters and eight Coast Guard cutters are on the way to assist USAID disaster response teams. (More Haiti stories.)

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