Travel Destinations to Avoid: Indonesia and Haiti

If you planned to travel to either Indonesia or Haiti, you should temporarily postpone your trip as traffic to and from these destinations couldn’t be farther from normal. To show palpable proof that disasters love company, a volcano is affecting flights and traffic in general in Indonesia after the archipelago has dealt with a tsunami in the previous week and  the already earthquake-damaged Haiti is not threatened by tropical storm Tomas that has all chances of becoming a full-scale hurricane later in the week.

Mount Merapi, said to be Indonesia’s most dangerous volcano, is responsible for all flights being canceled starting today, due to the poor visibility caused by the lava and smokes covering runways. According to the Associated Press, scientists warn that the eruption can go on for weeks, Â like a “marathon, not a sprint,” disrupting both air and land traffic.

The volcano’s latest blast claimed no lives but Indonesia was already struggling to respond to a tsunami that struck a chain of islands last week. The tsunami and the prior blasts have already killed 470 people, putting a lot of pressure on the government’s emergency response system.

The situation is bleaker in Haiti, a country devastated by cholera and with thousands of earthquake survivors still living in shelters. Tropical storm Tomas is heading their way, with big chances of turning into a hurricane. Tomas, a storm that has already killed 14 people in the Caribbean region, might reach Haiti this week.

U.S. Navy vessel Iwo Jima left toward Haiti earlier today to be able to provide disaster relief in case Tomas strikes Haiti later in the week, after strengthening again into a hurricane.

Let’s all pray the storm passes without any major damage and casualty-free and that the ongoing Indonesian eruption remains a calm flow of lava and smoke.