The United Nations is calling on the international community to help Haiti.

Hurricane Matthew caused catastrophic damage in the Caribbean nation and officials said 1.5 million people are in dire need.

Some estimates put the death toll over 1,000 and fears of a cholera outbreak are growing. CCTV America’s Stephen Gibbs reports.

The Port au Prince airport has become the hub of a major international aid operation. Hundreds of tons of supplies are beginning to arrive. The U.S. military has set up base in one corner of the airport.

The most efficient way of delivering that aid is by helicopter. The U.S. Marines are flying near non-stop missions to southwest Haiti. This is a supply of rice donated by Canada, via the World Food Program.

It’s not just food and water that’s being flown in, it’s also shelter. These are boxes of tarpaulin and each one providing basic shelter for a family.

It is not only a foreign aid operation. We came across the group of Haitian truckers. They had driven 24 hours from their homes in the affected areas in order to collect aid and take it back.

Organizing all this is a massive challenge including for air traffic control. In the foreground, that’s the presidential helicopter from the Dominican Republic. Inside the airport’s VIP area, Haiti’s acting president gave us a dire analysis of the crisis his country faces.

After meeting private, the President of the Dominican Republic said his country was ready to assist in any way.

Getting the right aid to the people that need it is a highly complex process and never guaranteed to succeed. But on the ground here, Haitians and international experts are joining forces, knowing that hundreds of thousands of people need help.

Kim Ives on Hurricane Matthew aftermath

For more on Hurricane Matthew aftermath, CCTV America’s Elaine Reyes spoke to Kim Ives, an editor at the “Haiti Liberte” which is the largest Haitian weekly newspaper, distributed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Haiti.