PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — An international relief effort for victims of Hurricane Matthew entered a more advanced stage Thursday as a second U.S. military ship arrived off Haiti’s coast and U.N. convoys and non-government organizations began reaching more isolated communities.

Food, clean water and construction materials have begun pouring into the southwestern peninsula, though many people there still say they’ve seen little or no aid.

U.S. military troops load bags of rice for Hurricane Matthew relief in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday.

Those working to send everything from water purification systems to building materials say the scope of the damage from Matthew and the difficulty reaching people create logistical challenges similar to those faced after the devastating earthquake that struck the crowded capital and surrounding areas in January 2010. But while the death toll from last week’s storm is in the hundreds, the Haitian government has said the earthquake killed more than 300,000.

The Haitian government says more than 1.4 million people urgently need humanitarian assistance.

Many people across the ruggedly scenic peninsula have watched passing aid trucks in growing frustration.

But amid the challenges, the relief effort has risen visibly in recent days. Teams from the Haitian Red Cross and Civil Protection agency have fanned out across the peninsula and large convoys from the U.N. and the migration agency are seen more throughout the disaster zone. On Wednesday, the U.S. military made 13 helicopter flights to hard-to-reach areas with 159 metric tons of food supplies, the U.S. Agency for International Development said.

Related Stories