By Aaron Randolph

Twitter: @ForeverAcee

 

Hurricane Matthew was one of the worst hurricanes to have hit in years. We have been watching Hurricane Matthew, and its progression for weeks. The tropical storm looked like it was going to be a severe storm from the start.

Hurricane Matthew had some severe effects on the southeast coast of the United States, and Haiti has a death toll of over 900. According to BBC, the death toll is expected to rise to over 900, and officials are saying that in certain areas, 90 percent of the land has been destroyed. There are citizens in Haiti that are still missing and are injured due to this horrible storm.

Hurricane Matthew was a category-four hurricane. It was the strongest storm to hit that region in a decade. The United Nations has made an appeal for $120 million in aid for Haiti. There are tens of thousands of homes in Haiti that have been destroyed because of Matthew. More than 60,000 residents are staying in shelters. Hurricane Matthew was such a rough storm, and officials are having a difficult time getting to the hardest hit areas in Haiti. The southeast coast of the United States felt the effects of Matthew as well.

There were at least eight people killed in North Carolina and three were killed in South Carolina because of the destructive force. A total of 19 people across four southeastern states were killed. The Fayetteville Emergency Operations Center sent out their rescue teams to rescue nearly 700 people overnight. Over 700,000 people were without power in North Carolina. Gov. Pat Mccory of North Carolina made a statement saying that even with Hurricane Matthew being off the map, it will still be with the state for a long time. North Carolina will need plenty of time to recover from the storm, but there is an imbalance in the amount of new coverage Haiti received versus the U.S. The media is covering the states that were affected by this storm, but it would be good to have more aid and support for Haiti.

 

Haiti experienced the most devastation and destruction from the storm. After reading countless articles, and watching different media outlets, it is clear that the media is more focused on reporting the damage in the U.S., while pushing Haiti to the side; it seems bias. When you type in “Hurricane Matthew” in a search engine, there are more articles and information on the four states that were affected by the storm.

What happened in the  U.S. is devastating, but more attention should be focused on Haiti. It’s going to take numerous donations and plenty of aid from everyone to help Haiti get back on its feet. I want to personally send out my prayers to the people of Haiti that were affected by the disaster. People have been displaced, injured, killed and rendered homeless. Many of them have no food and water. This hurricane is almost as bad as Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed New Orleans in 2005. This storm also comes not too long after a destructive earthquake hit Haiti back in 2010.

If you want to donate to the cause, you can do so by donating to unicefusa.org, world relief.org or your local American Red Cross.