PORT-AU-PRINCE — With Haiti's major bridges crumbled, roadways flooded and an estimated one million people homeless, humanitarian and government groups struggled Monday to push relief supplies into the country where four storms in rapid succession have kiled hundreds of people.
''We need a flood of helicopters because there is a lot of food coming into Port-au-Prince and it cannot reach the provinces,'' Haitian President Rene Preval said in an interview with The Miami Herald.
In Haiti, rescue groups have no access to many interior villages across the southern region and to hard-hit Gonaives, north of the capital, which was cut off when a bridge collapsed. A Red Cross truck trying to reach Les Cayes on the southern coast had to turn back because of impassable roads.
''The flooding is more extensive than people realize, and it's awful how little relief has been able to get into Gonaives and other areas,'' said Dr. Arthur Fournier, a University of Miami physician who co-founded Project Medishare, a charity that transports medical aid to Haiti.
Thousands of Haitians have been living in hospitals as temporary shelters, Fournier said.
''They are going to be stuck there for a long time,'' he said. "They don't have homes to go back to.''
The U.S. military helped deliver food and medical help Monday, and the U.S. Agency for International Development donated $10 million. Money also trickled in from around the world: The European Union gave $2.85 million for relief efforts, and the Dominican Republic — also struck by some of this year's storms — donated water, food and mattresses. Trinidad and Tobago sent Haiti about $1.5 million.
Read the full story at MiamiHerald.com.