Amid the teaming hordes of quake survivors, women bathed next to mounds of refuse and children relieved themselves on the bare earth. One tank supplied water for 6,000 people desperately needing to bathe, wash clothes and cook.

Some take their chances and drink the unsanitized water to quench their thirst in the burning tropical son, despite the risk of violent illness. Many pay the consequences.

"Sometimes we drink the water, even though we know that water's not for drinking," said Magalta Saint-Fleur, 30.

"If we don't have money (to buy purified water) there's nothing else we can do," she said. Nearby, her seven-year-old niece Fonsiane crouches, doubled-over and suffering from intestinal pain.

In the immediate aftermath of last week's quake, clearing out rotting bodies, removing mountains of rubble and debris, reuniting broken families and tending to the injured have topped the concerns of aid and relief workers.

The focus on providing immediate medical care to quake victims, along with rescue and recovery operations, has meant that hygiene matters have had to take a backseat.

But this lack of clean water and clean facilities is threatening to compound the misery in Haiti and the battle to ward off infectious disease is rising to the top of the priority list of those trying to help the quake-ravaged country.

There are only six toilets at Place Saint-Pierre and the authorities simply don't have the means to provide more, explained local official Saintizaire Rochemond. "It just simply never happens," he said.

Last Tuesday's devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed as many as

200,000 people and left one million homeless, meaning that squalid camps like the on at Place Saint-Pierre will be home to thousands for a long time ahead.

In Haiti's intense heat, everyone is thirsty and clamoring for water, which is in short supply because the country's water pipes were damaged by the quake and other reserves are contaminated by corpses.

The lucky few sometimes get their hands on the little packets of potable water being distributed by aid workers outside the camp.

Clean facilities are also in short supply and people are left to relieve themselves wherever and whenever they feel the need.

"Everywhere you go, there is feces and that's very dangerous," said Rita Aristide, a nurse at a first aid station run by the Haitian Red Cross.

"A lot of people are experiencing intestinal problems and there's vomiting all over the place," she said, complaining that severe diarrhea was raging through the camp.

Arsitide warned that in such conditions a health crisis could develop very quickly and feared widespread gastro bugs as well as cholera and mosquito-borne diseases.

A disease epidemic would be catastrophic for doctors in Haiti, already taxed to their limits by the legions of untreated traumatic injuries and other medical priorities.

One woman in the advanced stages of pregnancy, appears ready to give birth, but her husband is unable to find a doctor to attend to her.

Meanwhile a six year old girl Jerica, has wounds on her face, knees and leg which are becoming infected with pus as flies swarm around the festering injuries.

"We couldn't go to the hospital, we had no money to pay for transportation to get here there," said the child's mother, Marie-Rosette Charles, hovering over the prostrate girl.

Health workers with the Red Cross say they feel defeated and dejected, having received scarcely any international aid.

"There are a lot of people here with open wounds, but there simply isn't any room for them in the hospital," said Aristide.

Many patients are even reluctant to go to the hospital, fearing that another quake or aftershock could send the building tumbling down, the nurse added.

earlier related report
Brazil tasked with keeping the peace in quake-hit Haiti
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Jan 20, 2010 - The monumental task of stabilizing Haiti, already a challenge for a Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping force in place since 2004, suddenly got a lot harder following last week's devastating earthquake.

"We will be here as long as it takes, because now we have even more reason to stay," said Colonel Joao Batista Bernardes, the officer in charge of Brazil's battalion in the UN Stabilization Force for Haiti.

He was speaking after army officials confirmed that 18 Brazilian peacekeepers died in the earthquake.

Two civilians -- the deputy head of the UN mission, Luiz Carlos da Costa, and a high-profile children's rights campaigner, Zilda Arns -- were also killed in the disaster.

Brazil is taking steps to reinforce the peacekeeping mission in response to UN chief Ban Ki-moon's plea for 3,500 extra troops and police to boost the 9,000 already deployed.

Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim has asked Congress to approve sending at least 800 more soldiers and police officers, which would take Brazil's total contribution in Haiti to more than 2,000.

The military aspect of the UN mission is under the orders of Brazilian General Floriano Peixoto.

The troops are drawn from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, the United States and Uruguay.

Most of those countries also contributed police officers, alongside Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, China, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, El Salvador, Guinea, India, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Togo, Turkey and Yemen.

Brazilian patrols regularly head out to clear the debris- and corpse-strewn streets of Haiti and to counter roaming gangs of looters.

The contingent is also involved in aid distribution.

"Our soldiers make contact with community leaders in a specified neighborhood and select 60 to 80 women who will receive the humanitarian aid. It's always women who receive it," a civilian official in the main Brazilian peacekeeping base told AFP.

The base was now spilling over with extra medical and rescue personnel, leading to a search for suitable sites to host the growing numbers.

With the situation calming somewhat as US troops increase security and aid organizations spread out beyond the capital, Haitians were turning to the Brazilians in hope of reducing their daily plight.

Lines of locals hoping for work on the base, even for a day, stretched in front of the facility. For menial work, many were looking for nothing more than water and food.

While it was relatively calm during the day, "the tenser moments are during the nighttime patrols, because the entire city is dark and there is always the risk of disorder with the distribution of humanitarian aid," Bernardes said.

In the Cite Soleil slum, where the Brazilian maintain a post, a crowd has formed around a pipe broken to get at its undrinkable water.

The Brazilians stepped in to organize the crowd, prompting several Haitians to respond, some even in Portuguese.

"We don't have any food or water, and no medicine," said one, Fabio Junior, a 15-year-old speaking Brazilian Portuguese almost without an accent. Around him, the crowd asked what he said, and applauded when he translated into French.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News