The town of Jeremie in Haiti has suffered near-total destruction after Hurricane Matthew hit, flattening 80 per cent of its buildings.
Haiti: Over 300 killed in storm disaster
More than 300 people have died on the Caribbean island and the death toll is expected to rise as rescuers reach the worst-affected areas cut-off by the storm.
Donny Sant-German, a local resident share his experience.
“Between 6 and 7:30 it was the worst. Then we thought it was over. And everybody came out and they spent about an hour. Then it started over again and it was the worst part of it.”
Phone lines are down and aid groups are struggling to deliver life-saving assistance.
Cases of cholera are expected to rise after water supplies and sanitation systems were damaged.
“After visiting the shelter, I’ve realized there isn’t any water. There’s no water. We can’t help the people, there’s no food. And there are additional problems given the way people are living in the shelters”, said Moise David, Head of operations for the Haitian Red Cross.
With entire crop harvests destroyed the World Food Programme and UNICEF are scaling up their operations.
The Haitian government says 350,000 people are in immediate need of humanitarian assistance.
Euronews