Al Today said:
Is there a problem with cholera where you are now? Is this going on without the storm? Where does your fresh water come from?
Yes, we've had cases and some deaths here, way before Emily. I imagine with all of this rain that's going to get worse, cause some of our rivers are supposedly contaminated (i dunno if it's because cholera people living right next to it or due to something else, just like it popped up in Haiti)
Not as many as Haiti obviously, but it's caused deaths and that's never a good thing. We drink bottle water here, nothing from the faucet unless u have a death wish lol. There's a huge increase of Haitian citizens since the quake (not surprising) so even thought it took a while for it to start here i think it was inevitable that cholera would start up here too.
Most take precautions, but not everyone has the common sense to at least boil water if ur drinking from the faucet or wash ur hands regularly. Hygiene with food while ur cooking is the best prevention and some just dont have that.
Lilou: i work at a private university and i heard the same from a Haitian student that i spoke to regarding the help. The money wasnt really getting where it needed to (she worked for government institution that dealt with that), and she said it was frustrating to her how these "experts" were flown in to supposedly tell them how to get the help out, and they ended up having to teach this person (earning three times what they did) all about their job, while they just mostly lay on the beach in fancy hotels. Now, i'm not saying everyone is like that or that help hasnt arrived, but i saw her frustration because it just wasnt getting where it needed to be fast enough.
People have looked away from Haiti for the most part and it's tragic, because there's still people living in a very precarious situation. Hurricane season is once again here and that's just tragic in my eyes. The citizens have a right to a decent life so they dont have to risk it by coming here illegally or getting jobs where some might exploit them because they dont have papers.
Back to the topic of Emily, that thing has just been sitting in front of the coast going nowhere since last night, so we've had a lot of rain and i can imagine Haiti has to. At this point i just hope it disintegrates or something cause enough is enough ugh lol. I almost needed a boat to get back home from work just now, the streets are a mess.
Mother nature is sending us a warning with water here in the Dominican Republic :P, cause i dunno if u also heard that one of our lakes here (the biggest one in the Caribbean) is mysteriously flooding the entire area, to a point where they've had to evacuate people. It isnt cause of the rain and no one knows where the water is coming from... i think i actually saw an article about it in SOOT too... yeah found it, here it is: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231605-NASA-Eyes-Dominican-Republic-Lake-s-Mysterious-Growth ... we still dont have answers and it continues growing and flooding land :/
I'll stop or this will turn into a mega-post :D
