Haitians bear brunt of Sandy

Meanwhile, reports state that the death toll has reached 74 in the United States. What the mainstream media tends to overlook is that islands in the Caribbean have been hit at least equally hard by the devastating hurricane.

In total, 70 people are said to have lost their lives in the Caribbean, and at least 50 of these casualties occurred in Haiti. Since the catastrophic earthquake that occurred two years ago, the situation remains dire for most Haitians. Over 300,000 people are still living in tent camps and more than 7,000 people have died as a result of the cholera outbreak since 2010.

Following the majority of news reports, however, one could get the impression that the small island nation of Haiti has been somewhat forgotten by the media. When tropical storm Isaac was threatening to delay the Republican Convention in Tampa, the media was full of reports of what this would mean for presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his party and the presidential race. While it is safe to say that the Republican party was not hurt all to badly by the Isaac-inflicted one-day delay of their convention, numerous Haitians were severely affected by the destruction of tent camps, established for Haitians who had lost their homes in the aftermath of the 2010 natural disaster.

Looking at reports describing the damage caused by tropical storm Isaac in August this year, one can only imagine what hurricane Sandy must have meant for the thousands of Haitians, who were already homeless, malnourished and exposed to horrendous sanitary conditions. Although it is fair to argue that the US media is predominantly concerned about major political events in their country (which is true for most national news channels, newspapers in other countries), it is absolutely essential to not forget about the highly concerning state of Haiti and its people.