Tuesday, February 16, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE: A mudslide in northern Haiti on Monday caused the partial collapse of a school, killing four children and injuring two others, a Haitian civil protection official said.
"The accident was caused by four days of rain that caused a mudslide," said the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give out the information.
He said the primary school in Cap-Haitien partially collapsed, leaving "four dead and two injured." All were children, he said, adding the incident occurred in the early afternoon.
Firefighters and UN rescue workers called off a search at the school after determining there was no one else inside, the official said.
The accident brought further catastrophe to a country already struggling to recover from last month's massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.
The government began allowing schools outside of areas hard-hit by the earthquake to reopen at the start of February.
Haiti's north was largely unaffected by the quake. Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city, is located on the northern Atlantic Coast, some 250 kilometers (160 miles) away from the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince.
The area has often been used as a departure point for Haitians seeking to leave their impoverished country in rickety, overloaded boats.
Haiti has begun to see downpours ahead of the heavy rainy season, which typically starts around May.
PORT-AU-PRINCE: A mudslide in northern Haiti on Monday caused the partial collapse of a school, killing four children and injuring two others, a Haitian civil protection official said.
"The accident was caused by four days of rain that caused a mudslide," said the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give out the information.
He said the primary school in Cap-Haitien partially collapsed, leaving "four dead and two injured." All were children, he said, adding the incident occurred in the early afternoon.
Firefighters and UN rescue workers called off a search at the school after determining there was no one else inside, the official said.
The accident brought further catastrophe to a country already struggling to recover from last month's massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.
The government began allowing schools outside of areas hard-hit by the earthquake to reopen at the start of February.
Haiti's north was largely unaffected by the quake. Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second city, is located on the northern Atlantic Coast, some 250 kilometers (160 miles) away from the devastated capital of Port-au-Prince.
The area has often been used as a departure point for Haitians seeking to leave their impoverished country in rickety, overloaded boats.
Haiti has begun to see downpours ahead of the heavy rainy season, which typically starts around May.
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