Tropical Storm Tomas Passes By But The Sanitation Crisis Continues

It is cool and cloudy in Haiti this morning, and we’ve gotten reports that Tropical Storm Tomas has mostly blown by. SOIL’s agronomist, Jean Marie Noel, is on his way out to our main compost site to check on the damage, SOIL’s deputy director, Nick Preneta, is fielding updates from the camps where we work, and SOIL’s executive director, Sasha Kramer, is at her godson’s baptism. The city is quiet and calm as people slowly return to their lives and work.

Right before the storm came, SOIL met with a writer for the Chrisitian Science Monitor to talk about the need to address the ongoing sanitation crisis even as Haiti faces ongoing natural disasters. “Amid the potential for three simultaneous humanitarian catastrophes – an earthquake, a hurricane, and a cholera outbreak – the capital also faces severe sanitation problems, particularly around Cite Soleil, home to some 400,000 people and one of the capital’s few sewage dumping points.” Isabeau Docet, November 4, 2010