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Sandy’s damage extends south, to Haiti

Before Sandy hit New York, New Jersey, and the United States, it made its way through the Caribbean. Haiti received some of the worst damage — More than 10,000 Haitian houses were destroyed.

Even before Sandy’s devastation, Haiti has been particularly hard hit this year by drought and heavy storms.

“People have lost all of their capital — their seeds and their crops and their livestock — for them that’s their capital and that’s their savings, that has been washed away by the storm,” says Oxfam’s Amelie Gauthier who is stationed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

All in all, 90 percent of Haiti’s crops have been lost this year. According to Gauthier, food prices have already begun to increase by as much as 60 percent. “This is going to be very difficult for families to have sufficient food and make ends meet,” she says.

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