Haiti death toll hits 473 as survivors plead for aid

At least 473 people are now known to have died as Hurricane Matthew leveled swaths of southern Haiti last week, officials said on Tuesday (Oct 11), as hard-hit communities struggled to rebuild homes and access food and clean water.

Haiti is observing three days of mourning for the victims of the deadly storm, which also left 75 missing and 330 injured according to the provisional toll from the nation's civil protection agency.

More than 175,500 people remain in shelters across the country, many of them in schools - which is keeping nearly 100,000 children from resuming classes.

Matthew struck as the impoverished nation was struggling to stifle a cholera outbreak that authorities fear will now worsen, with the World Health Organisation pledging on Tuesday to send a million doses of cholera vaccine.

Two water purification stations also arrived in Port-au-Prince Tuesday as part of France's first shipment of humanitarian aid, which comprised some 69 tonnes of supplies including medicine and anti-cholera kits.

Each station produces 250,000 litres of drinking water per day.

But damage to roads and communications has hamstrung deliveries of supplies in some areas, according to an AFP journalist in the southern coastal village of Groteaux.

Many residents of that community were still struggling to find food and clean water as they scrambled to repair their battered homes.