Less than a week since Hurricane Matthew, Haiti is facing a public health crisis as cholera gallops through rural communities lacking clean water, food and shelter. Survivors of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti are mourning the victims as fears of an increase in cholera cases grow. The Category Four storm is believed to have killed as many as 900 people in the Caribbean country. In the US, at least 18 people were killed as the storm made its way north. It has now moved out to sea.
The hurricane was the strongest to hit the region in a decade. It kept up its hurricane strength with winds of at least 110mph (177km/h) for seven days. In Haiti, the poorest country in Latin America, it destroyed tens of thousands of homes, leaving more than 60,000 people staying in temporary shelters. The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Haiti, Mourad Wahba, said: "We are not far from having one million people who are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance." Crops were destroyed, putting pressure on food resources, and at least 13 people have died of cholera following widespread flooding, raising fears of an outbreak similar to that after the 2010 earthquake, when nearly 10,000 people died.
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