UNITED NATIONS (CMC) – United Nations Special Adviser Dr David Nabarr says Hurricane Matthew, which ripped through Haiti two weeks ago, has left more than 700,000 people in an “extremely difficult situation”.

Nabarr said that, while steady progress is being made, led by Haitians themselves, the response must be accelerated “as the needs are still great, frustrations are high, and access to hard-hit areas remains tough”.

Yet, even with so many people lacking food, water and health care in the south-western part of the French-speaking Caribbean country, where the category four storm made landfall on October 4, Nabarr said that “so many excellent things are already happening… as the people themselves are hard at work, readjusting their lives so they are protected from the elements”.

He said they are also gathering as much food as they can and “doing everything they can to be careful with the water they drink because they know that the water from the rivers and the brooks can give rise to cholera.

The UN said another “positive” is the work being done by Haitian authorities.

“But I have to say, this is a really big challenge, a logistical challenge to get things to where they are needed because the roads are so heavily damaged and there’s a limit to what you can do with helicopters,” Nabarr said.

He said that, over the past four days, he had seen that travelling in the interior of the country is still very difficult, adding that another key challenge is that there are people who are very frustrated in some areas.

“Anyone who’s been affected by this kind of mass tragedy is frustrated. They are also, in some cases, scared because of disease and hunger. So, yes, there is a combination of frustration and fear,” he said, adding that at the same time, getting relief to such a large number of people in such challenging circumstances is just very difficult,” Nabarr stresssed.

He said that the response must be carried out amid adequate security and communication with the public to reduce the threat of looting, which is making distribution “very difficult”.

As for the cholera situation in Haiti, he said: “Cholera is here. It stalks everybody.”

Yet, he said the disease is treatable with solid recovery rates, provided people get to treatment centres.

“We are seeing cholera cases everywhere we go. What we don’t know is how many cases there are that don’t get to the centres. This is why a more detailed study (of the situation in the) interior [of the country] is so important,” Namarr said, noting that cholera and malnutrition are the “big risks”for the people of Haiti and we recognise that in everything we do.”