Don’t forget the storm’s other victims

One certainly shouldn’t downplay the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy in the United States, where at least 33 people were killed and the property damage is likely in the tens of billions of dollars. But the storm’s worst impact is likely still to come, and it will hit Haiti hardest:

 Hurricane Sandy destroyed 70 percent of the crops in southern Haiti and caused widespread deaths of livestock, while in neighboring Jamaica it left at least $16.5 million worth of damage in its wake, officials in the Caribbean nations announced Tuesday.

Haitian Ministry of Agriculture official Jean Debalio Jean-Jacques said the government has not yet put a dollar figure on the losses. But as the top agriculture ministry official in Haiti’s Southern Department, he said many poor farmers will have no food because of the hurricane’s extensive damage.

Aid workers believe food shortages are likely in the country, where 50 people were killed in the storm, by far the largest casualty number in the Carribean.

The storm also caused millions of dollars in damage to property and crops in Jamaica.  The Cuban city of Santiago was also decimated by the storm, with half a million people left without power, water, or transportation.