AFP UK

The death toll from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti has risen to 1,941, the Caribbean nation’s civil protection agency said Tuesday, as a tropical storm brought torrential downpours on survivors already coping with catastrophe.

More than 9,900 people were wounded when the quake struck the southwestern part of the Caribbean nation on Saturday, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the west of the capital Port-au-Prince, according to the updated toll.

With more than 60,000 homes destroyed and 76,000 damaged, the United Nations’ children’s agency UNICEF said that more than half a million children have been affected by the disaster.

In the coastal town of Les Cayes residents began building makeshift shelters on a football field despite gushing winds and pouring rain as Tropical Storm Grace passed over the country. 

So few structures remained standing that people had to relieve themselves in city streets, according to Magalie Cadet, 41, who only had a shower cap to protect against the rain.

Aftershocks continued to rock the ground in Les Cayes days after the quake, further terrifying the residents.

“Yesterday evening, I took shelter near a church, but when I heard the ground shake again, I ran to return here,” said Cadet.

– Rather be ‘wet than dead’ – 

The US National Hurricane Center warned of flash and urban flooding, and possible mudslides as Grace lashed the impoverished country with up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain. 

Haiti officials warned residents to watch out for buildings that are showing cracks from the earthquake because they could collapse under the weight of water. 

Despite the rain, drinking water was running short. In the coastal community of Pestel, over 1,800 cisterns with drinking water have cracked or been destroyed in the quake. 

In 2010, in the aftermath of a horrific earthquake that killed 200,000 people, Haiti saw a deadly cholera outbreak caused by sewage from a United Nations base.

Natacha Lormira tried to build a shelter for herself using a torn piece of tarp attached to a thin piece of wood. 

“I don’t want to hide under a gallery or under a corner of a wall because we have seen people die under wall panels,” said Lormira. “We have resigned ourselves that it’s easier to be wet than dead.”

– Government ‘not helping’ –

Wet from the constant rain, 28-year-old Vladimir Gilles tried insert several pieces of bamboo deep into the ground to build a cover for his wife and child. 

Gilles said he needs some tarp to keep his family dry, but the government “is not helping.” 

“My house is destroyed, I have nowhere to sleep,” he said.

The government has declared a month-long state of emergency in the four provinces affected by the quake. 

Rescue workers have pulled out 34 people alive from the rubble in the past 48 hours, authorities said.

But any official rescue efforts in one of the world’s poorest countries are complicated by political chaos raging there a month after the assassination of president Jovenel Moise.

Hundreds of French firefighters battled to contain a raging wildfire near the glitzy Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez on Tuesday, with thousands of residents and holidaymakers forced to evacuate. 

Roughly 900 firefighters were using high-pressure hoses, aircraft and helicopters in an attempt to control the flames, which began racing through the scrubland and trees of the Plaine des Maures nature reserve on Monday evening.

“The coming hours will be absolutely decisive” for the firefighting effort, President Emmanuel Macron said during a visit to first responders.

While Macron added that “the battle is ongoing and the fire has not yet been contained, stabilised,” he said that the firefighters’ courage had managed to “avoid the worst” with no casualties so far.

Eric Grohin, a colonel in the Var department firefighters, said the flames were regularly leaping gaps of up to 800 metres (900 yards), making it difficult to hem the blazes in.

“There’s not much we can do beyond protecting human lives and homes,” he said.

Among the thousands moved to the safety of municipal buildings and schools were 1,300 people staying at a campsite in the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas down the coast from Saint-Tropez.

“Thousands of people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, but there are no victims,” fire service spokeswoman Delphine Vienco told AFP on Tuesday morning, adding that the blaze was “still very fierce”.

“The fire is very large, it’s a very difficult fight,” said Vienco, citing “adverse conditions, with strong winds and high temperatures.”

Many tourists could be still be seen enjoying the sunshine on the nearby Cote d’Azur beaches, however, as Canadair firefighting aircraft swooped in regularly to fill their tanks from the sea before returning to the smoking hills nearby. 

Others loaded up their cars and headed for safety, leading officials to plead for people in secure areas to stay at home and avoid blocking roads used by the emergency services. 

“We started smelling the smoke around 7 pm (1700 GMT), then we saw the flames on the hill,” said Cindy Thinesse, who fled the Mole campsite near Cavalaire on Monday evening. “We hesitated, but when we saw that, we decided to leave,” she told AFP.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are on holiday at the nearby Bregancon Fort and he announced he would visit the scene later Tuesday.

– Portugal, Spain fires –

Large blazes have already ravaged parts of Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco this year.

The Mediterranean basin has long faced seasonal wildfires linked to its dry and hot weather in the summer, but climate scientists warn they will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming.

Around 600 firefighters in Portugal were also battling a fresh blaze in Castro Marim in the Algarve region on Tuesday, a tourist hotspot in the far south of the country close to the border with Spain.

Around 9,000 hectares have been burned and one firefighter was briefly admitted to hospital for treatment for burn injuries, local officials said, although the blaze was later declared under control.

A separate fire in central Spain near Navalacruz is also being brought under control, regional authorities have said, but around 12,000 hectares of forest have gone up in flames. 

– ‘Such speed’ –

The French fire is believed to have started near a motorway that runs through the Plaine des Maures nature reserve some 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of Saint-Tropez.

The wind-fanned blaze had ripped through some 6,500 hectares of forest and scrubland by Tuesday, according to the fire department.

“We’ve never seen it spread with such speed, it was three or four times the usual,” Thomas Dombry, mayor of La Garde-Freinet village, told AFP.

Authorities were counting the cost to the environment even as the fires still raged on Tuesday.

“Half of the Plain des Maures nature reserve has been devastated. It is a disaster,” said Concha Agero, deputy director of the French Office of Biodiversity, adding that the reserve “is one of the last spots sheltering the Hermann tortoise.”

Charred power lines lay on the ground Tuesday, as well as vines in place.

Many trees were burnt around their trunks but their branches were intact, suggesting the fire had ripped through at speed.

The fire came close to La Garde-Freinet during the night but spared the settlement, which was badly hit in 2003 by a catastrophic blaze that cost the lives of three firefighters. 

bur-est-ol-adp/tgb/lc

Hundreds of French firefighters battled to contain a raging wildfire near the glitzy Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez on Tuesday, with thousands of residents and holidaymakers forced to evacuate. 

Roughly 900 firefighters were using high-pressure hoses, aircraft and helicopters in an attempt to control the flames, which began racing through the scrubland and trees of the Plaine des Maures nature reserve on Monday evening.

“The fire keeps starting in lots of different places. We’re a long way from declaring victory,” the captain of the fire service for the local Var region, Olivier Pecot, told AFP. 

“The wind has picked up, has changed direction slightly, and the fire is starting to spread in areas that hadn’t been impacted,” he added.

Among the thousands moved to the safety of municipal buildings and schools were 1,300 people staying at a campsite in the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas down the coast from Saint-Tropez.

“Thousands of people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, but there are no victims,” fire service spokeswoman Delphine Vienco told AFP on Tuesday morning, adding that the blaze was “still very fierce”.

“The fire is very large, it’s a very difficult fight,” said Vienco, citing “adverse conditions, with strong winds and high temperatures.”

Many tourists could be still be seen enjoying the sunshine on the nearby Cote d’Azur beaches, however, as Canadair firefighting aircraft swooped in regularly to fill their tanks from the sea before returning to the smoking hills nearby. 

Others loaded up their cars and headed for safety, leading officials to plead for people in secure areas to stay at home and avoid blocking roads used by the emergency services. 

“We started smelling the smoke around 7 pm (1700 GMT), then we saw the flames on the hill,” said Cindy Thinesse, who fled the Mole campsite near Cavalaire on Monday evening. “We hesitated, but when we saw that, we decided to leave,” she told AFP.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are on holiday at the nearby Bregancon Fort and he announced he would visit the scene later Tuesday.

– Portugal, Spain fires –

Large blazes have already ravaged parts of Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Algeria and Morocco this year.

The Mediterranean basin has long faced seasonal wildfires linked to its dry and hot weather in the summer, but climate scientists warn they will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming.

Around 600 firefighters in Portugal were also battling a fresh blaze in Castro Marim in the Algarve region on Tuesday, a tourist hotspot in the far south of the country close to the border with Spain.

Around 9,000 hectares have been burned and one firefighter was briefly admitted to hospital for treatment for burn injuries, local officials said. 

A separate fire in central Spain near Navalacruz is being brought under control, regional authorities have said, but around 12,000 hectares of forest have gone up in flames. 

– ‘Such speed’ –

The French blaze is believed to have started near a motorway that runs through the Plaine des Maures nature reserve some 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of Saint-Tropez.

The wind-fanned blaze had ripped through some 3,500 hectares of forest and scrubland by Tuesday, according to the fire department.

“We’ve never seen it spread with such speed, it was three or four times the usual,” Thomas Dombry, mayor of La Garde-Freinet village, told AFP.

Authorities were counting the cost to the environment even as the fires still raged on Tuesday.

“Half of the Plain des Maures nature reserve has been devastated. It is a disaster,” said Concha Agero, deputy director of the French Office of Biodiversity, adding that the reserve “is one of the last spots sheltering the Hermann tortoise.”

Charred power lines lay on the ground Tuesday, as well as vines in place.

Many trees were burnt around their trunks but their branches were intact, suggesting the fire had ripped through at speed.

The fire came close to La Garde-Freinet during the night but spared the settlement, which was badly hit in 2003 by a catastrophic blaze that cost the lives of three firefighters. 

bur-est-ol-adp/db/dl

As wildfires supercharged by climate change-induced drought and heatwaves ravage southern Europe, conservationists are increasingly concerned for the fate of the continent’s wild species which are struggling to stay ahead of the rampaging blazes.

“Fires falling outside natural patterns are jeopardising the survival of wildlife, which are killed or injured through direct contact with smoke and flames or suffer widespread habitat destruction,” Margaret Kinnaird, global wildlife practice leader at WWF International, told AFP.

While it is hard to gauge the impact of individual fires on specific species, there is no doubt that the blazes destroying thousands of hectares of their natural habitat is bound to disrupt certain animals.

“There are so many fires it is impossible to know which ones are serious and having an impact,” said Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List unit. 

“In an area impacted by fire, it will also depend on the species found at those sites as to how susceptible they will be -– some species are tolerant of fires and others may even thrive after fire.”

– Turkey –

According to WWF’s preliminary observations, the fires in the forests and mountains of Turkey’s southern Mugla and Antalya provinces have caused “extensive damage” to habitats of desert lynx, wild goat, eagle owl and woolly dormouse.

In total the environment inhabited by 121 species has been damaged in Antalya and by 87 species — including woodpeckers and reptiles — in Mugla.

– Greece –

In neighbouring Greece, WWF said it had recorded “major disasters in many parts of the country, with the recent forest fires affecting vital ecosystems and countless wild and domestic animals.”

It said that the hard-hit north of the Attica region was home to the only area in southern Greece where critically endangered red deer lived, adding that the region was home to two packs of grey wolves, another endangered and protected species.

– Italy –

Italy’s national Aspromonte park, which comprises a large part of the Cantabria region, has been hit by a string of fires in recent weeks.

The park is home to the rare forest dormouse, WWF said.

Flames were also threatening several species endemic to Sardinia, “one of the most biodiversity-rich regions in the Mediterranean,” it added.

Among those at risk are the Sardinian deer, which was saved from extinction in the 1980s, the Sardinian partridge and the Sardinian hare, it said.

Fires in Abruzzo, Sardinia, Puglia and Sicily were having a “huge impact on wildlife and important ecosystems that are already threatened by fragmentation, land transformation, hunting, poaching and illegal logging,” WWF said. 

– France –

A large blaze ravaging southern France near the tourist hotspot of Saint Tropez has burned part of the Plaine des Maures nature reserve.

The reserve is one of the last spots where Hermann’s tortoises — Europe’s last land turtle — still live. There are around 10,000 of the tortoises in the reserve, according to Concha Agero, deputy head of France’s Office for Biodiversity.

“We hope that with previous fires, they are able to burrow underground and will only be partially burned,” she told AFP.

– Russia –

Russia’s largest region of Yakutia is ablaze, with fires “threatening many of the large animals that dwell in the region’s protected areas,” according to WWF. 

These include populations of elk, wild reindeer, roe deer, brown bears, wolves, wolverines, lynx and flying squirrel, as well as rare species such as musk deer, snow sheep, black-clawed marmot, white cranes, black cranes, gyrfalcons, peregrine falcons, white-tailed eagles, and golden eagles, it said.

An hour’s drive from Haiti’s southern coast, only a sign remains indicating where the district of Marceline stood until every last house crumbled in Saturday’s earthquake — the latest blow to an area that is no stranger to natural disaster.

Tragedy has cast a long pall over life in Haiti’s southwest corner, which suffered a humanitarian crisis in October 2016 when Hurricane Matthew caused catastrophic damage, leveling an estimated 200,000 homes and killing hundreds.

“When Matthew passed, the roof of my house was carried away. It was through a Canadian organization that I was able to rebuild it,” said Bertha Jean Louis, standing Tuesday in front of her now-destroyed sheet metal dwelling.

Nothing remains of the 43-year-old’s life save a heap of concrete, broken furniture and tattered linens. Neither her house nor her mother’s withstood the shaking that devastated their community, near the city of Camp Perrin.

On either side of the road that crosses the southern peninsula, buildings crumbled under the force of the 7.2 magnitude earthquake, with few exceptions.

“We need help finding a house. That’s all. Then we can make do, we’re used to it. We’ll work the land and that will sustain us,” Jean Louis said.

Her voice, energetic and assertive, reveals little of the recent tragedy that has befallen her: a 35-year-old brother who died in the collapse of their shared home, the hospitalization of her husband with injuries to both legs, the fact that she is now tending to her 75-year-old mother alone while four months pregnant.

“Since Saturday, I’ve been wearing the same dress. I can’t risk going under the rubble to save anything. I just wash my underwear, and when it’s dry, I wash my dress, that’s how I do it because I have nothing saved,” she explained.

“I’m totally discouraged, but I know that the Good Lord will send us aid from another country, like what happened after Matthew. That’s why I still have hope.”

– ‘I would flee’ –

Her neighbor, who also lost everything, is already hard at work building a tin shelter in front of what remains of his house.

“After Matthew, I took in a lot of people. I welcomed them here because the whole neighborhood was destroyed. But today, I can’t do anything for them because I too am in the street,” said Claude Altime.

When Matthew walloped Haiti in 2016 it left a trail of death and destruction: more than 500 people killed and nearly $2 billion in damage.

The storm hit with the country still recovering from a massive 2010 tremor that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and left nearby cities in ruins, killing more than 200,000.

This week should have been an occasion for celebration. Altime’s two youngest children, age four and 11, celebrated their birthdays. But the family was sunk too deep in despair.

“If I could find a place to disappear to and leave this area, I would flee, because I suffered Matthew and now I suffer this. I had never seen an earthquake in my life,” he said.

On Tuesday a new weather system, Tropical Storm Grace, brought the all-too-familiar threat of torrential rain to the country. 

In the downpour Altime is trying to eke out, under a few pieces of sheet metal fixed to frail wooden poles, a daily existence for his wife and their four children, as well as for his octogenarian father whose house collapsed not far away.

Hundreds of French firefighters battled a raging blaze near the Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez on Tuesday, with thousands of residents and holidaymakers forced to evacuate. 

Roughly 750 firefighters using high-pressure hoses and water-dropping aircraft were attempting to control the flames, which began racing through a nature reserve on Monday evening.

“Thousands of people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, but there are no victims,” fire service spokeswoman Delphine Vienco told AFP on Tuesday morning, adding that the blaze was “still very fierce”.

Among those moved to safety were 1,300 people staying at a campsite in the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas down the coast from glitzy Saint-Tropez.

As tourists and locals fled, officials warned them to avoid blocking roads used by the emergency services. 

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are on holiday nearby, and he announced he would visit the area later.

Southern France is the latest area around the Mediterranean basin to be hit by wildfires this summer, a seasonal phenomenon that climate scientists warn will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming.

Large fires have already ravaged parts of Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Algeria and Morocco this year.

– ‘Such speed’ –

The blaze is believed to have started near a motorway that runs through the Plaine des Maures nature reserve some 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of Saint-Tropez.

Many trees were burnt around their trunks but their branches were intact, suggesting the fire had ripped through at speed.

“We’ve never seen it spread with such speed, it was three or four times the usual,” Thomas Dombry, mayor of La-Garde-Freinet village, told AFP.

The fire came close to La-Garde-Freinet during the night but spared the settlement, which was badly hit in 2003 by a catastrophic blaze that cost the lives of three firefighters. 

The local fire department said more than 3,500 hectares of forest and scrubland had burnt by Tuesday morning. 

– Fire season –

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin is due to travel to the area later on Tuesday.

Hot and dry southeast France, which regularly experiences summer wildfires, had been relatively spared so far this year.

According to the Prometheus database on forest fires in the Mediterranean region, the total area burnt in France in the four regions hit was 2,336 hectares for 2021, against 7,698 for the whole of 2020.

Last year, a fire ravaged 1,000 hectares in a popular tourist region west of Marseille.

At least 2,700 people, including many tourists, had to be evacuated, some by sea.

Hundreds of French firefighters battled a raging blaze near the Mediterranean resort of Saint-Tropez on Tuesday, with thousands of residents and holidaymakers forced to evacuate. 

Roughly 750 firefighters using high-pressure hoses and water-dropping aircraft were attempting to control the flames, which began racing through a nature reserve on Monday evening.

“Thousands of people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, but there are no victims,” fire service spokeswoman Delphine Vienco told AFP on Tuesday morning, adding that the blaze was “still very fierce”.

Among those moved to safety were 1,300 people staying at a campsite in the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas down the coast from glitzy Saint-Tropez.

As tourists and locals fled, officials warned them to avoid blocking roads used by the emergency services. 

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are on holiday nearby, and he announced he would visit the area later.

Southern France is the latest area around the Mediterranean basin to be hit by wildfires this summer, a seasonal phenomenon that climate scientists warn will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming.

Large fires have already ravaged parts of Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Algeria and Morocco this year.

– ‘Such speed’ –

The blaze is believed to have started near a motorway that runs through the Plaine des Maures nature reserve some 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of Saint-Tropez.

Many trees were burnt around their trunks but their branches were intact, suggesting the fire had ripped through at speed.

“We’ve never seen it spread with such speed, it was three or four times the usual,” Thomas Dombry, mayor of La-Garde-Freinet village, told AFP.

The fire came close to La-Garde-Freinet during the night but spared the settlement, which was badly hit in 2003 by a catastrophic blaze that cost the lives of three firefighters. 

The local fire department said more than 3,500 hectares of forest and scrubland had burnt by Tuesday morning. 

– Fire season –

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin is due to travel to the area later on Tuesday.

Hot and dry southeast France, which regularly experiences summer wildfires, had been relatively spared so far this year.

According to the Prometheus database on forest fires in the Mediterranean region, the total area burnt in France in the four regions hit was 2,336 hectares for 2021, against 7,698 for the whole of 2020.

Last year, a fire ravaged 1,000 hectares in a popular tourist region west of Marseille.

At least 2,700 people, including many tourists, had to be evacuated, some by sea.

Thousands of people, including tourists in campsites, have been evacuated to escape a wildfire raging near the plush tourist resort of Saint-Tropez in southern France, the fire service said Tuesday.

Around 750 firefighters and water-droppping aircraft were battling the blaze in difficult conditions, with high temperatures and strong winds.

“Thousands of people have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, but there are no victims,” a fire service spokeswoman, Delphine Vienco, said, adding that the blaze was “still very fierce”.

Southern France is the latest area around the Mediterranean basin to be hit by wildfires this summer, a seasonal phenomenon which climate scientists warn will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming.

Large fires have already ravaged parts of Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Algeria and Morocco.

The blaze broke out Monday at a motorway stop about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of the port city of Toulon.

By Tuesday morning, it had already covered more than 3,500 hectares of forest and scrubland, according to the fire department.  

“This is the area covered but it is too early to estimate the area burned,” the spokeswoman said.

– ‘Difficult battle’ –

Evacuations have mainly taken place around Saint-Tropez and the villages of Le Mole and Grimaud, Vienco said.

“The fire is very huge and its spreading at a speed of four kilometres an hour, it’s a very difficult battle.

“During the night we managed to prevent the fire from reaching Garde-Freinet,” a village about 20 kilometres from Saint-Tropez.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin is due to travel to the areas later Tuesday.

The Var prefecture confirmed that several campsites were evacuated and asked people to avoid congesting the roads around the Gulf of Saint-Tropez so that the emergency services can access the area. 

Those evacuated were housed in municipal buildings in the region.

Hot and arid southeast France, which regularly experiences summer wildfires, had been relatively spared so far this year.

According to the Prometheus database on forest fires in the Mediterranean region, the total area burned in France in the four regions hit was 2,336 hectares for 2021, against 7,698 for the whole of 2020.

Last year, a fire ravaged 1,000 hectares in a popular tourist region west of Marseille.

At least 2,700 people, including many tourists, had to be evacuated, some by sea.

Its bell tower and yellow walls a sharp contrast with Haiti’s blue tropical sky, the historic Immaculee Conception church was the pride of Les Anglais, until it was destroyed by an earthquake Saturday, burying several faithful inside.

On August 14, at exactly 8:29 am (1229 GMT), a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southern Haiti, reducing the church’s facade and steeple to a pile of rubble in seconds.

At least 17 people were crushed to death by the collapsing wall and roof.

“I had just finished celebrating the 6:30 am morning mass and had entered the presbytery to have coffee before returning to celebrate baptisms” when the quake struck, said parish priest Wilson Exantus Andre.

“The oldest of the deceased was 24 years old. What is hard is that a woman who has only two children, 18 years old and 3 years old, lost them both,” the priest, still in shock, told AFP on Monday.

The bodies of all of the victims were pulled out of the ruins of the church.

The massive quake killed more than 1,400 people across Haiti, according to a preliminary official toll reported on Monday.

– Just seconds –

“It was a beautiful church with very beautiful architecture,” said the priest. “It was part of the national heritage, it was the pride of the people of Les Anglais, who never missed an opportunity to talk about it.”

But in just a few seconds, the church, built in 1907, was destroyed.

Only part of the nave and the corrugated iron roof withstood the earthquake and its incessant aftershocks. Some of the church’s wooden benches were covered in piles of stones that used to be the steeple.

Two people trapped under the rubble were rescued with help from heavy equipment rushed in by workers with a Taiwanese construction company that happened to be working nearby, the priest said.

The survivors were taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Port-a-Piment.

Stunned residents of the coastal hamlet exchanged stories of what they lost in the quake outside the church ruins on Monday.

“It’s a tragedy really, we can’t believe how it all fell so quickly,” one of them said.

They each spoke of relatives killed during the disaster, as nearby a lone child’s shoe, black in color but now covered in white dust, lay in the church square.