The death toll in Haiti has been astounding. At least 1,500 people have been confirmed dead in the city of Gonaives, and nearby smaller towns, and rural areas. Another 1,000 are missing, many of them presumed dead. An unknown number have been swept to the sea by the floods. About 250,000 people have been made homeless.

The reason for this devastation is not “natural.” It mainly stems from the country’s extreme deforestation as a result of imperialist domination. The toll has also been magnified by the lack of adequate housing, medical care, roads, transportation, communications, and other basic infrastructure. These conditions are the result of exploitation by the domestic capitalist ruling families and plunder by imperialist powers—above all Washington, Paris, and Ottawa.

Frequent flash floods are a worsening feature of Haitian life, as living conditions continue to deteriorate. About 3,000 Haitians perished after floods and mudslides in June in the border region between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Only 1 percent of Haiti retains tree cover. This extreme deforestation—the worst in the Americas—exacerbates the effect of even a minor rainfall, causing massive runoff, mudslides and erosion, clogging rivers and lakes, and polluting coastal waters.

The imperialist powers that have dominated Haiti have left it so underdeveloped that most people have no source of modern energy. The national electrical system only serves a tiny minority. Average electrical consumption per person in Haiti is only 2.8 percent of U.S. per capita consumption. The real figure for workers and peasants, however, is a lot less than the national average, which fell 18 percent in the 1990s. With no alternative source of fuel, Haitian workers have used Haiti’s forests to manufacture charcoal both for their own use and to eke out a living by selling it. About 70 percent of Haitian homes use charcoal or wood for cooking and heating water.

Two thirds of Haitians live under the national poverty level. Annual per capita income in this predominantly agricultural country is only $440, intensifying the pressure on the land. Many survive with help from family members living in the United States or other countries. Haitians living abroad send remittances to relatives and others at home totaling about $800 million per year.

The coastal city of Gonaives with a population of 200,000 was largely underwater September 18, after the storm hit the north coast of the island, on its way to the Bahamas and central Florida. Parts of Gonaives remained submerged a week later. Flood waters rose 10 feet as overflowing rivers from the valleys above the city poured down, charged with mud and rocks. Bodies were carried down rivers and streams into the city.

Port de Paix, on the northern coast, lost 56 people to the flood waters. Up river from Port de Paix, the small town of Chansolme was reported to have 400 people missing and 18 dead. Gros Morne, Pilate, Ennery, Passereine, Poteaux, and Mapou were among the many other towns and villages that were reportedly hard hit. With roads washed out and telephones inoperative, however, information on the scope of the disaster is incomplete.

Many rivers flow into the Quinte River, which drains into the sea at Gonaives, whose highest point is only two meters above sea level. As tributaries overflowed their banks, rising 30 feet in some cases, the rising water caused city residents to seek shelter on rooftops and trees. Waters rose to roof level, causing the whole city to look like a lake with rafts floating on it as the sun rose the morning after the flood, according to an eye witness who was lucky enough to find a rooftop refuge with his family. Whole families were lost. Every building in Gonaives is said to be affected, with 4,000 completely destroyed.

The hospital in Gonaives was still out of commission a week later after it was hit by a mudslide. Bodies of patients were still buried in the knee-deep mud.

There is no fresh water or electricity in the city.

An article in the Miami Herald from Dibedou gives a picture of the damage in the countryside. “[S]ome of the houses built on low-lying areas were washed away, and most of their families lost their farm animals and their crops,” it said.

“The floodwaters receded here almost as quickly as they came. But now the land itself is wounded: Fields once planted with corn and sorghum are covered with boulders; a thick, now-dry layer of mud covering other fields will take months to plow and replant. ‘We lost eight cows and eight goats,’ said Asemene Donasien, pointing to a shed where her family’s corn harvest was stored. Soaked by the floods, the corn is now ruined for eating or as seed for planting.”

The damage to crops will intensify the food crisis over the coming months.

Members of the UN-sponsored military forces and private aid agencies are providing food and water to only a small portion of those in need. One week after the flood, UN representatives say they have only gotten food to 25,000 people.

Several countries have donated emergency aid. The government of Cuba, which has a permanent medical mission of 600 doctors and nurses in Haiti, has 16 medical technicians in Gonaives. Venezuela immediately offered more than $1 million. The European Union offered $1.8 million. Washington initially said it would give a paltry $60,000—which it later raised to over $2 million after widespread criticism. But the damage to roads is so great that the limited aid on hand has not been effectively delivered. UN-sponsored troops have beaten Haitian working people at distribution sites who are desperately seeking food and drinkable water.

The regime of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue—which replaced the elected government of Jean Bertrand Aristide after a rightist military uprising last February that enjoyed Washington’s tacit backing—has been largely a spectator in the rescue efforts.

The U.S. Senate recently passed a resolution that concludes by warning the Haitian government that “the failure to establish a secure and stable environment and to conduct credible and inclusive elections (in 2005) will likely result in Haiti’s complete transition from a failed state to a criminal state.”

The World Bank organized a conference in Washington, D.C., in July where wealthy nations pledged $1 billion in “aid” to Haiti. Most of this funding, however, is extended in the form of loans or investments that perpetuate Haiti’s colonial domination.

Even as the first in the series of hurricanes hit the Caribbean, some capitalist figures in the United States couldn’t help but express their contempt for the people of the region. “Clothing is wonderful, but them let go naked for a while, at least the kids,” was the advice offered by Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential contender John Kerry. The scion of one of America’s wealthiest families, she told volunteers packing emergency relief supplies September 15 at a market in Brooklyn’s Caribbean community that “water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes…. I think it’s important we help all the kids we can.”
 
 
Related articles:
‘Immediate, unconditional U.S. aid to Haiti!’
Says Martín Koppel, socialist candidate for U.S. Senate in N.Y.
Unconditional aid to Haiti now!  
 
 
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