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Haitians at risk of starvation as storm hits earthquake-stricken island

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Just days after an earthquake killed hundreds and left thousands missing, Haiti is getting hit by a punishing tropical storm, leaving many people stranded and starving.

Even structures erected after the earthquake have been knocked down from the storm.

"It's hard, I have a lot of children with me. I don't even have a piece of plastic to cover us to sleep," one survivor said.

With no shelter for themselves, survivors don't know where to turn.

"We are in the rain...we have no place to go. The shelter is not open. Where are the authorities?"

Search-and-rescue efforts to find survivors from the earthquake are shifting to recovery missions while hospitals struggle to help the thousands injured while short-staffed and running out of supplies.

A small glimmer of hope is on the horizon for one of the hardest hit regions. The World Food Programme is heading for Les Cayes with a police escort to ensure food supplies arrive safely.

"So this is already very, very, very good, very good signal," Pierre Honnorrat, the WFP representative in Haiti, told Omar Sachedina, national affairs correspondent for CTV National News.

One warehouse in Haiti that houses donations from other countries, including Canada, is one of three operated by the WFP, and it holds enough food to feed up to 300,000 people for one month.

Hunger was a problem in Haiti before the earthquake and storm hit; as many as one million people in the country don't know where their next meal will come from.

"The biggest challenge in those situations is really to save lives in a very short time, that's for sure," said Honnorat.

- With Files from The Associated Press

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