The powerful hurricane, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, slammed into Haiti on Tuesday with 145 mile-per-hour (233 kph) winds and torrential rains that left 1.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. The official death toll from the central civil protection agency is 336, a slower count because officials must visit each village to confirm the numbers. UNICEF said Monday that 475 people had been killed in Grand-Anse, citing local emergency operations authorities who have been tallying the dead from different cities. Mr Frenel said there was great concern about the cholera spreading, and that authorities were focused on getting water, food and medication to the thousands of people living in shelters. In those conditions, he said, the threat of a cholera outbreak was a “huge concern.”

 The disease, which is spread through water or food contaminated Vibrio cholerae bacteria, can cause severe diarrhea and vomiting, which leads to extreme dehydration.
Matthew's death toll in Haiti rises to at least one thousand, with victims being buried in mass graves. An unknown number of people remain missing and authorities report that cholera is spreading in the hardest hit-areas in the country's southwest.