Rain soaks homeless Haitians, collapses shacks

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A pre-dawn rain shower soaked tens of thousands living in rudimentary shelters in Haiti's capital today, an alarming taste of the havoc a sustained tropical downpour could wreak on this earthquake-ravaged country.

Rain collapsed cardboard shacks and soaked clothing and bedding at the Marassa 14 camp, where about 2,500 earthquake-displaced people live in a dry riverbed. People scrambled to shore up leaks.

Most of the estimated 1.2 million people that the U.N. says are living in temporary camps across Haiti livel in simple structures made of bed sheets and plastic sheeting. Officials warn that more permanent shelter must be had before the rainy season begins within weeks.

Downtown, more than 1,000 people demanded shelter in separate protests outside the collapsed National Palace and at the police post where government ministers have temporary offices.

"They're not giving us tents. It's raining and now we are in trouble," said one protester, Saintel Petit.

The European Union, criticized for its slow response to the earthquake, said today it will mount a military operation to bring shelter before the start of the rainy season, usually in April. Officials did not immediately give details on what kind of shelter the EU plans to provide.