- Text
Finally, a Lucky Break for Haiti
One of the more than 1.3 million people still living in tent cities in Haiti.
(Credit: Sebastian Petion/CBS News)But the close call only serves to illustrate how unprepared the poorest country in the Western hemisphere is for another disaster.
With more than a million people still living in tents left over from earthquake relief supplies, the Haitian government did far too little, far too late to mitigate the possible effects of a major storm. At a tent city on the outskirts of the capital, a rapidly-rising river threatened to flood a community of more than a hundred families.
Police moved to evacuate the tents just hours before the storm could have devastated the camp, only to be told by the people there that they had nowhere else to go, and didn't want to leave their makeshift homes.
The police left — the people didn't.
Gallery: Haiti Dodges a Bullet
Tomas Loses Hurricane Status After Soaking Haiti
Events like this played out across the city, as water suppliers scrambled to get clean water in place to avoid any contamination that can come after a hurricane sweeps through. Local health officials here warned that the cholera epidemic could spread exponentially if a hurricane disrupted the water supply.
Despite those efforts, many Haitians still drank from overflowing rivers, surrounded by trash from overtaxed sewage systems.
Haiti did not emerge from Tomas completely unscathed. Seven people died due to flooding, and the cholera epidemic has so far claimed more than 400 lives. But the death toll would have been much higher had the hurricane made a direct hit on the island.
The Haitian government got lucky this time. History shows it's unlikely their luck will hold out.
- 130 Doctors Without Borders staff go missing
- American, French journalists killed in Syria
- "Voluptuous" Ukrainian nurse abandons Qaddafi
- Cockpit error sent 737 into Pacific nose dive
- Girl with Two Heads Born in Philippines
- Booze and bikinis in a new Egypt
- 23 women convicted of child pornography in Sweden
- Syria blogger reportedly killed in shelling
- Stephen Hawking: Heaven is "a fairy story"
- Israel To U.S.: Don't Delay Iraq Attack
- GlobalPost: Qaddafi apparently sodomized
- A U.S. double-standard for Bahrain?
- Iran: We can attack U.S. interests "anywhere"
- Pakistani fishermen reel in 40-foot whale shark
- Dramatic rescue of passengers on sinking yacht
- South Korea's legacy battle with tuberculosis
- Bail rules prevent Kim Dotcom from using Internet
- Poland's jobless rate rises to 13.2 pct in January
- Syrian forces shell Homs as crisis in city deepens
- AP Interview: US envoy says no soldiers to Nigeria
on Facebook
- Six decades of Oscar fashion
- GOP presidential debate: Winners and Losers
- Is world's shortest man this 22-inch-tall Nepalese 72-year-old?
- Christie: Buffett should "write a check and shut up"
on CBS News
