Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵITED NATIONS, New York, 5 October 2016<\/em><\/strong> — The President of the United Nations General Assembly H.E. Peter Thomson expressed his deep concern for the people of Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Bahamas and all those affected in the region as they struggle to cope with the effects of Hurricane Matthew.<\/p>\n “As a Fijian who has witnessed first hand the power and devastation of such destructive tropical cyclones, I fully empathise with those facing up to the damage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the families and friends of those who lost their lives as a result of the storm, I offer heartfelt condolences.\u00a0The world must stand with the victims at this time as people of goodwill everywhere recognise their suffering and stand ready to offer a helping hand,” he said.<\/p>\n Described as the most powerful Caribbean hurricane in nearly a decade, Hurricane Matthew hit southeast Haiti particularly hard leaving thousands of people displaced and without power or communications. Media reports say officials are struggling to reach the worst-hit areas.<\/p>\n Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ has said the country was facing the “largest humanitarian event” since it was hit by a huge earthquake in 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Statement on Hurricane Matthew from the President of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly H.E. Peter Thomson Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵITED NATIONS, New York, 5 October 2016 — The President of the United Nations General […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":74184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[3692,846,3688,3680,3684,3180],"class_list":["post-75468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statements","tag-bahamas","tag-cuba","tag-dominican-republic","tag-haiti","tag-hurricane-mathew","tag-latest-news"],"yoast_head":"\n