Haiti earthquake tells a bigger story

On Tuesday, a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the heart of the small Caribbean island nation of Haiti.

It’s the worst earthquake the country has seen for two centuries, with the death toll in the thousands and critical infrastructure destroyed.

Sadly, it is yet another blow to this poor country’s attempts to build itself after years of turmoil and misfortune.

The earthquake hit at 5pm local time and was quickly followed by two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitudes. It struck about 15km from the country’s capital city Port-au-Prince where most of the damage occurred.

Haiti’s President, Rene Preval, said the situation was “unimaginable.” Schools and hospitals have collapsed with many victims inside, along with countless homes and businesses. Parliament, the tax office and the Presidential palace have also been destroyed.

There have been claims of looting, and reports of escaped inmates after the collapse of the main prison. There is also damage to roads and surrounding towns.

The Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN that he believed the death toll could be over a hundred thousand; though it is still difficult to confirm real numbers (many fear it may rival that of the Asian tsunami).

The destruction of the hospitals and roads has made dealing with the dead bodies and those injured a nightmare. Medecins Sans Frontieres, a medical charity, said they can only offer basic care to the “massive influx” of patients – many in critical condition.

The Red Cross have said up to three million people are affected.

Fortunately, the airport is still operational, despite losing its control tower, meaning the millions in medical and food aid that has already been donated by the UN, aid organisations and various countries can be delivered.

The UN, which has a 9,000-strong force in Haiti, said at least 14 of its people, including the mission chief, are believed to be dead, and over 100 more feared buried under the rubble after its five-story headquarters collapsed.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called the entire situation a “humanitarian emergency”.

Indeed the reason the UN is there is because Haiti has had its fair share of problems in the past, the results of which have contributed to the earthquake’s impact.

Haiti was a cruelly-run Spanish, then French colony – used mainly for sugar and coffee plantations – until it became an independent country in 1804 after the only slave-led rebellion in history to do so.

Its 10 million people occupy a third of the island of Hispaniola, with the Dominican Republic occupying the remaining land (no damage from the earthquake has been reported there).

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, Haiti was ruled by brutal dictators who were supported by America.

It wasn’t until 1994, after President Clinton negotiated the removal of the military leaders, that the country first experienced proper democracy (although the first President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was supposedly removed for refusing to sell the government’s electricity and phone businesses to US companies).

The UN is there because in 2004 chaos broke out when rebels wanted to overthrow Aristide, who had been elected for a second time in 2000.

In what many suggest was a planned coup, the US again removed Aristide as President, this time taking him by plane to Africa (the US claim he asked to leave). The UN sent a peacekeeping force in response and has been helping rebuild the country ever since.

All up, years of mismanagement and corruption by the dictators (and to a less extent the leaders since) has left Haiti in a bad state. And a series of hurricanes over the last decade has added to the misery.

As a result, it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Unemployment is about 50% and the government relies on foreign aid for about 30-40% of its national budget.

Most Haitians work in agriculture, though often simply to provide food for themselves. Many of the people live in slums in the capital.

Due to the poverty, earthquake-proof dwellings are an unfeasible luxury for most Haitians, and for the government to make it a mandatory requirement would only make basic survival and commerce unaffordable.

So like in many poor countries, when disaster strikes, the event is a lot more tragic.

The aid will help for now, but Haitians will be hoping that the earthquake might bring long-term assistance and perhaps mark the country’s second independence – this time from the unforgiving rule of poverty.

By The Casual Truth