http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/04/10/haiti.tent.city/index.html?hpt=Sbin
Quake-hit Haitians leave tent cities for camp
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 12, 2010 12:21 p.m. EDT
Haitians seek high ground ahead of rains
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: 60 people were first to be relocated from tent city to new camp Saturday
- At old tent city, many tents in danger of being washed away, officials say
- About 50,000 people have sought refuge at the Petionville Golf Club since the earthquake
- Camp services will include health clinics, food distribution tent, security services, showers
(CNN) — Officials in Haiti on Saturday moved the first people out of a ballooning tent city — one of many erected in the wake of the 7.0-magnitude quake that devastated the country in January — and into a new resettlement camp before the rainy season enters full swing.
About 50,000 people have sought refuge at the Petionville Golf Club since the quake killed more than 200,000 people and reduced large swaths of Haiti to rubble.
The once lush fairways and rolling hills of the golf course have been transformed into a teeming tent city where residents have set up vegetable markets, pharmacies and other makeshift businesses.
But early spring rains have already turned portions of the course into rivers of mud, and officials with the government and the International Organization for Migration fear that about 7,500 people are in danger now that the rainy season has officially begun.
Many of the residents’ tents are located on a steep slope and are in danger of being washed away in mudslides, officials say. Engineers from the U.N. peacekeeping force, MINUSTAH, and the U.S. military have identified several other areas that need to be cleared to prevent flooding and mudslides in the rest of the camp, according to IOM.
Video: Behind the scenes in Haiti
Video: Homeless Haitians to safer locations
Video: Haiti’s schools re-open
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