Hurricane Sandy “disaster of major proportions” in Haiti

Forty four Haitians have been declared dead due to Hurricane Sandy.
Prime Minister Laurent Lamonthe has called the situation a “disaster of major proportions”.

According to media reports, the death toll could climb as rivers continue to rise. Twelve people are also still missing.

Just fewer than 400,000 Haitians are still living in tent cities following the devastating earthquake of 2010; emergency officials have moved 18,000 people to other shelters as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Bahamas hopes to have a full assessment of the damage left behind by Hurricane Sandy.

At a press conference on Saturday the Director of NEMA, Captain Stephen Russell disclosed that the agency was yet to receive reports from officials on some of the most affected islands. Up to late Saturday, some islands were still without electricity and in some cases, water.

The overall death toll in the Caribbean in the aftermath of the hurricane, which made landfall in Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti, now stands at 58.