Hunger, thirst and the spectre of cholera amid hurricane devastation

Driving along the Haiti coast west of Les Cayes, town after town reveals increasing levels of devastation and desperation.

It's not surprising that a convoy of 25 aid trucks headed for this region Tuesday night was held up by a mob brandishing big sticks.

West of Marcabee, a hilltop assembly of homes and tiny shops, two white aid trucks are parked and a swarm of around 100 people have gathered, hoping to get some food.

The backs of the trucks slide open to reveal rice, oil and beans the boxes of soybean oil marked with the World Food Program logos and clearly stamped "Gift from Canada."

Watching over it all is Larousse Ceus, with the public health division of the Haitian government. He's working on the distribution of food, but also on cholera prevention, which he says is another challenge, especially in small villages that are completely cut off.

"There will be crisis and outbreaks around various areas," said Ceus. "Some places have their water cut off and only have access to contaminated water. The water systems are not working in a lot of small villages that are completely cut off with no road access."

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His staff are wearing T-shirts with the creole words "Kolera Toujou La" to remind people that "Cholera is still around," so they should be careful.

One particularly Haitian aspect to the health outreach challenge here, according to Ceus, is that "Haitians have an intimate relationship with their dead. They wash them, they embrace them, so they have a very high chance of contacting cholera from them."

'Whatever water they can find'

Further west along the coast, in Port--Piment, Mdecins Sans Frontires has taken over the management of the cholera cases and its staff is busy trying to sequester them so they aren't mixing with the general hospital population.

Jean Daniel LaGuerre, an MSF doctor from Port-au-Prince, is in charge. He's treating 67 patients with cholera and feels he has it under control at the hospital, but worries about what is going on in the seaside community outside the hospital doors.

"We don't know what's happening on the community level for distribution of cholera and drinkable water."

When asked what the people in town drink, he answers: "Whatever water they can find."

And he worries that some other kind of epidemic could break out in this region of Haiti.