Children sing a song about washing hands with soap to prevent the spread of cholera at the Kawoussel camp. This camp has already had several suspected cholera cases and the community is on high alert for anyone else displaying symptoms. Strong hygiene practices, including washing with soap, are at the cornerstone of cholera prevention.

Melody Munz (left), the IRC’s environmental health coordinator in Haiti, says that unsanitary conditions in the wake of tropical storms and a lack of public health infrastructure leave an open door for a cholera outbreak.

A woman, Yedith, hammers down a tattered tarp to try to secure her home in Villambetta camp as Tomas approached on Thursday.

Venel Nelson, a primary school teacher and camp resident, holds his prized dictionary. The IRC gave out sturdy plastic bags for people to protect their most important documents and possessions during the storm, but his giant dictionary won't fit.

Teaching "Community Hygiene Promoters" in Port-au-Prince how to chlorinate drinking water.

Two boys from Teleco camp in Port-au-Prince watch as a group of Community Hygiene Promoters learn how to chlorinate drinking water. An outside group trucks in water for the camp several times a day, and residents have complained that it is not clean to drink.