View Online [[link removed]] | Subscribe now [[link removed]]Powered byKnow better. Do better.Climate. Change.News from the ground, in a warming world

By Jack Graham [[link removed]] | Climate change and nature correspondent, UK

Armed gangs

The Caribbean is bracing for hurricanes, from building flood defences to securing crucial food and hygiene supplies.

Up to seven major storms [[link removed]] are forecast in what's expected to be an "extraordinary" Atlantic hurricane season.

But in Haiti, armed gangs are making any preparations far harder.

As Joseph Guyler Delva in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and Anastasia Moloney in Bogotá report, this means the country is nowhere near ready.

Rampaging gangs [[link removed]] have killed thousands of people and displaced many more in the capital while in coastal areas, like the town of Léogâne, hundreds of people are still living in tents after deadly floods last year.

With their lives upended by gang wars, Haitians are ill-prepared for more frequent and severe tropical cyclones driven by climate change.

Major ports are closed, cutting off key supplies of food, medicine and aid, intensifying a humanitarian crisis that has plunged about five million people into hunger [[link removed]]. In the capital, food prices have soared because gangs have blocked transport routes and are charging people to get through.

"It is already a crisis," said Prospery Raymond, country director of a consortium of three NGOs in Port-au-Prince. "If a hurricane were to hit Haiti, it will have a catastrophic effect."

Across the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, 41 million people living in coastal areas are exposed to life-threatening storms and flooding [[link removed]], according to recent U.N. data. And many countries have hospitals in vulnerable coastal areas less than 10 metres above sea level.

Diana Baptista/Thomson Reuters Foundation

Running the gauntlet

Despite all these challenges, work is underway to try to prepare.

A new disaster situation room was set up this month, volunteers have re-activated civil protection groups, and Haiti's National Emergency Operations Center (COUN) has restocked its central warehouse.

Distributing supplies like hygiene kits, tents and shovels is difficult, though, when gangs control entire neighbourhoods - setting up roadblocks and imposing curfews.

"We often have to skirt regular roads to avoid contact with armed bandits," said Emmanuel Pierre, who heads COUN.

Prenille Nord, 42, poses for a photograph with his children Darline and Kervins among the debris of their destroyed house after Hurricane Matthew hit Jeremie, Haiti, October 17, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

In response, COUN officials have been identifying local suppliers in remote areas who can buy food and equipment, or have "cut a deal with some boat owners and captains" to buy supplies and ship them to communities, said Pierre.

For U.N. agencies and foreign aid groups trying to deliver vital items, political stability is a priority. Since a presidential assassination in 2021, gangs have expanded their control over Haiti and displaced thousands of civilians.

Interim Prime Minister Garry Conille was sworn in on June 3 and has named a new cabinet [[link removed]] aiming to tackle the deep humanitarian crisis fuelled by the armed gangs.

Now, the race is on to improve the security situation and allow the nation to face up to a potentially even greater threat.

See you next week,

Jack

This week's top picks Top banks 'bankrolling destruction' in Amazon, says report [[link removed]]

Report by environmental groups says top banks are 'greenwashing' oil and gas financing in Amazon, urges end to such investments

How to save the banana? The answer may lie in Indonesia [[link removed]]

The Cavendish is the world's top banana but a fungus threatens to wipe it out. Can Indonesian varieties save the world's bananas?

Game changer: extreme heat stifles women's sports in Pakistan [[link removed]]

Women battle extreme heat as they push to keep playing sports against all odds in Pakistan's sweltering Sindh province

Read all of our coverage here [[link removed]] Discover more Nature [[link removed]] Climate Risks [[link removed]] Net Zero [[link removed]] Just Transition [[link removed]] Climate Justice [[link removed]] Green Cities [[link removed]] Thank you for reading!

If you like this newsletter, please forward to a friend or share it on Social Media. [[link removed]]

We value your feedback - let us know what you think [mailto:[email protected]].

[[link removed]]

This email was sent to you by Thomson Reuters Foundation located at 5 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AQ - a registered charity in the United Kingdom and the United States.

If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. If you do not wish to receive this type of correspondence in the future, contact us at [[email protected]] so that we can remove you from this list.

Thomson Reuters Foundation terms and conditions and privacy statement can be found online at www.trust.org [[link removed]].

Photos courtesy of Reuters or Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Manage your Subscriptions [[link removed]] | Unsubscribe from all TRF communications [link removed]