The loss of this bridge is the single greatest obstacle to moving aid South, but it's by no means unusual. We could have picked any one of dozens of places where communications have been cut just as completely. In some of them temporary foot bridges are allowing the population some movement. It will clearly take years to restore many of these bridges, but in the short-term, erecting temporary structures is an absolute priority. Perhaps the biggest danger at this stage is disease, aggravated by lack of drugs - disease caused by the filth, the lack of clean water, the rotting carcasses of dead farm animals.
Many clinics are overwhelmed.
At the main hospital in the town of Dan Lee, the medical director showed me his pharmacy, the shelves almost empty of drugs, no new supplies since the storm, none likely in the immediate future. Top priority or not, babies are still being born here. The wards are crowded with women who can't leave with their newborns because of the condition of their homes. But without the drugs, without the sanitary supplies that it's proving so hard to move around this country, the hospitals may become next to useless as well. Much of what's needed is in the country, but until it's distributed, it can do no good.