Haiti tent camps evacuated ahead of storm

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Fear and confusion swept over more than 1 million homeless Haitians yesterday after officials advised them to abandon tent camps in the rubble-choked capital before Tropical Storm Tomas arrives.

Few of the earthquake survivors who have spent nearly 10 months under plastic tarps and tents have anywhere to go. Painfully slow reconstruction, prior storms and the recent commitment of government resources to fight a growing cholera epidemic have left people with few options as overtaxed aid workers struggle to help.

"We are using radio stations to announce to people that if they don't have a place to go, but they have friends and families, they should move into a place that is secure," said civil protection official Nadia Lochard, who oversees the department that includes Port-au-Prince.

The government says there are more than 1,000 shelters available, but the term is loose and can refer to any building expected to stand up to high winds. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there is a need to identify safe public infrastructure for use as storm shelters.

Tensions boiled over into scuffles at the Corail-Cesselesse camp north of the capital when managers tried to explain a planned voluntary evacuation of 8,000 people from ShelterBox tents once promised to be hurricane-resistant. "People said, 'We've been displaced before, what's going to happen to us?' " said Bryant Castro, the American Refugee Committee staffer managing the camp. - AP