Former U.S. President Bill Clinton urged participants of the Haiti Summit to come up with ideas on how to protect the more than one million people left homeless in the Caribbean nation by January’s devastating earthquake, amid predictions that 2010 will see a very intense hurricane season.
“We have more than one million people that are currently living in very precarious conditions, in camping tents,” Clinton, who is the United Nation’s Special Envoy to Haiti. “We can not allow for people to die during this Hurricane Season because they inhabit temporary dwellings.”
The Haitian government and the international community have been working on designing areas where the displaced might be taken in case of a hurricane, but there is yet much to be done since there are a limited number of buildings left in the country that are able to withstand hurricane force winds.
Clinton made his comments during the Solidarity Beyond the Crisis Summit, where representatives from more than 54 countries and 35 organizations are drafting action plans to help Haiti recover from the great ailments caused by the 7.0 quake, which left more than 200,000 dead and more than 1.3 million people homeless.
Others have also expressed concerned about the possible risk of the displaced during the hurricane season.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Caribbean and the U.S.’s East Coast will see the development of between 14 and 23 named storms in the season beginning on June first. Eight to 14 of those are expected to become hurricanes.
The numbers are just shy of the 29 storms and 15 hurricanes registered in 2005, year that produced the likes of Katrina and Wilma.
Wed, Jun 2, 2010
Press Room