Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
title	2010 Haiti earthquake
date
map2	Image:Haiti_earthquake_map.png| rect 90 75 175 100 Saint-Marc rect 90 125 175 135 Léogâne rect 80 136 135 150Petit-Goâve rect 100 151 185 175Jacmel rect 176 125 250 150 Port-au-Prince desc none
magnitude	7.0 Mw
depth
location
countries affected	Haiti, Dominican Republic
intensity	MM X
Pga	0.5 ''g''
tsunami	Yes (localized)
casualties	46,000 - 316,000 deaths }}

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M_w earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. International agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development, have suggested that the death toll is much lower at somewhere between 46,000 and 92,000, and 220,000, with around 1.5 million to 1.8 million homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.

The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. Many notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard. The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi.

Many countries responded to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel. Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks had been damaged by the earthquake, which hampered rescue and aid efforts; confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with prioritisation of flights further complicated early relief work. Port-au-Prince's morgues were quickly overwhelmed with many tens of thousands of bodies having to be buried in mass graves. As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became priorities. Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid workers and survivors, and looting and sporadic violence were observed. On 22 January the United Nations noted that the emergency phase of the relief operation was drawing to a close, and on the following day the Haitian government officially called off the search for survivors.

Background

The island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is seismically active and has a history of destructive earthquakes. During Haiti's time as a French colony, earthquakes were recorded by French historian Moreau de Saint-Méry (1750–1819). He described damage done by an earthquake in 1751, writing that "only one masonry building had not collapsed" in Port-au-Prince; he also wrote that the "whole city collapsed" in the 1770 Port-au-Prince earthquake. Cap-Haïtien, other towns in the north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the Sans-Souci Palace were destroyed during an earthquake on 7 May 1842. A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the Dominican Republic and shook Haiti on 4 August 1946, producing a tsunami that killed 1,790 people and injured many others.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and is ranked 149th of 182 countries on the Human Development Index. The Australian government's travel advisory site had previously expressed concerns that Haitian emergency services would be unable to cope in the event of a major disaster, and the country is considered "economically vulnerable" by the Food and Agriculture Organization. It is no stranger to natural disasters; in addition to earthquakes, it has been struck frequently by tropical cyclones, which have caused flooding and widespread damage. The most recent cyclones to hit the island before the earthquake were Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike, all in the summer of 2008, causing nearly 800 deaths.

Geology

The magnitude 7.0 M_w earthquake occurred inland, on 12 January 2010 at 16:53 (UTC-05:00), approximately WSW from Port-au-Prince at a depth of on blind thrust faults associated with the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. There is no evidence of surface rupture and based on seismological, geological and ground deformation data it is thought that the earthquake did not involve significant lateral slip on the main Enriquillo fault. Strong shaking associated with intensity IX on the Modified Mercalli scale (MM) was recorded in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs. It was also felt in several surrounding countries and regions, including Cuba (MM III in Guantánamo), Jamaica (MM II in Kingston), Venezuela (MM II in Caracas), Puerto Rico (MM II–III in San Juan), and the bordering Dominican Republic (MM III in Santo Domingo). According to estimates from the USGS, approximately 3.5 million people lived in the area that experienced shaking intensity of MM VII to X, a range that can cause moderate to very heavy damage even to earthquake-resistant structures.

The damage from the quake was more severe than for other quakes of similar magnitude due to the shallow depth of the quake.

The quake occurred in the vicinity of the northern boundary where the Caribbean tectonic plate shifts eastwards by about per year in relation to the North American plate. The strike-slip fault system in the region has two branches in Haiti, the Septentrional-Oriente fault in the north and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault in the south; both its location and focal mechanism suggested that the January 2010 quake was caused by a rupture of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault, which had been locked for 250 years, gathering stress. However, a study published in May 2010 suggested that the rupture process may have involved slip on multiple blind thrust faults with only minor, deep, lateral slip along or near the main Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone, suggesting that the event only partially relieved centuries of accumulated left-lateral strain on a small part of the plate-boundary system. The rupture was roughly long with mean slip of . Preliminary analysis of the slip distribution found amplitudes of up to about using ground motion records from all over the world.

A 2007 earthquake hazard study by C. DeMets and M. Wiggins-Grandison noted that the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone could be at the end of its seismic cycle and concluded that a worst-case forecast would involve a 7.2 M_w earthquake, similar in size to the 1692 Jamaica earthquake. Paul Mann and a group including the 2006 study team presented a hazard assessment of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system to the 18th Caribbean Geologic Conference in March 2008, noting the large strain; the team recommended "high priority" historical geologic rupture studies, as the fault was fully locked and had recorded few earthquakes in the preceding 40 years. An article published in Haiti's ''Le Matin'' newspaper in September 2008 cited comments by geologist Patrick Charles to the effect that there was a high risk of major seismic activity in Port-au-Prince.

Aftershocks

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded eight aftershocks in the two hours after the main earthquake, with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.9. Within the first nine hours 32 aftershocks of magnitude 4.2 or greater were recorded, 12 of which measured magnitude 5.0 or greater, and on January 24 USGS reported that there had been 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater since the January 12 quake.

On 20 January at 06:03 local time (11:03 UTC) the strongest aftershock since the earthquake, measuring magnitude 5.9 M_w, struck Haiti. USGS reported its epicentre was about 56 kilometres (35 miles) WSW of Port-au-Prince, which would place it almost exactly under the coastal town of Petit-Goâve. A UN representative reported that the aftershock collapsed seven buildings in the town. According to staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who had reached Petit-Goâve for the first time the day before the aftershock, the town was estimated to have lost 15% of its buildings, and was suffering the same shortages of supplies and medical care as the capital. Workers from the charity Save the Children reported hearing "already weakened structures collapsing" in Port-au-Prince, but most sources reported no further significant damage to infrastructure in the city. Further casualties are thought to have been minimal since people had been sleeping in the open. There are concerns that the 12 January earthquake could be the beginning of a new long-term sequence: "the whole region is fearful"; historical accounts, although not precise, suggest that there has been a sequence of quakes progressing westwards along the fault, starting with an earthquake in the Dominican Republic in 1751.

Tsunami

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning immediately after the initial quake, but quickly cancelled it. Nearly two weeks later it was reported that the beach of the small fishing town of Petit Paradis was hit by a localised tsunami wave shortly after the earthquake, probably as a result of an underwater slide, and this was later confirmed by researchers. At least three people were swept out to sea by the wave and were reported dead. Witnesses told reporters that the sea first retreated and a "very big wave" followed rapidly, crashing ashore and sweeping boats and debris into the ocean.

Damage to infrastructure

Essential services

Amongst the widespread devastation and damage throughout Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, vital infrastructure necessary to respond to the disaster was severely damaged or destroyed. This included all hospitals in the capital; air, sea, and land transport facilities; and communication systems.

The quake affected the three Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) medical facilities around Port-au-Prince, causing one to collapse completely.

The earthquake also destroyed a nursing school in the capital and severely damaged the country’s primary midwifery school. The Haitian art world suffered great losses; artworks were destroyed, and museums and art galleries were extensively damaged, among them Port-au-Prince's main art museum, Centre d'Art, College Saint Pierre and Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) at Christopher Hotel and offices of the World Bank were destroyed. The building housing the offices of Citibank in Port-au-Prince collapsed, killing five employees. The clothing industry, which accounts for two-thirds of Haiti's exports, Construction standards are low in Haiti; the country has no building codes. Engineers have stated that it is unlikely many buildings would have stood through any kind of disaster. Structures are often raised wherever they can fit; some buildings were built on slopes with insufficient foundations or steel works. A representative of Catholic Relief Services has estimated that about two million Haitians lived as squatters on land they did not own. The country also suffered from shortages of fuel and potable water even before the disaster.

President Préval and government ministers used police headquarters near the Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport as their new base of operations, although their effectiveness was extremely limited; several parliamentarians were still trapped in the Presidential Palace, and offices and records had been destroyed. Some high-ranking government workers lost family members, or had to tend to wounded relatives. Although the president and his remaining cabinet met with UN planners each day, there remained confusion as to who was in charge and no single group had organized relief efforts as of 16 January. The government handed over control of the airport to the United States to hasten and ease flight operations, which had been hampered by the damage to the air traffic control tower.

Almost immediately Port-au-Prince's morgue facilities were overwhelmed. By 14 January, a thousand bodies had been placed on the streets and pavements. Government crews manned trucks to collect thousands more, burying them in mass graves. In the heat and humidity, corpses buried in rubble began to decompose and smell. Mati Goldstein, head of the Israeli ZAKA International Rescue Unit delegation to Haiti, described the situation as "Shabbat from hell. Everywhere, the acrid smell of bodies hangs in the air. It’s just like the stories we are told of the Holocaust – thousands of bodies everywhere. You have to understand that the situation is true madness, and the more time passes, there are more and more bodies, in numbers that cannot be grasped. It is beyond comprehension."

Mayor Jean-Yves Jason said that officials argued for hours about what to do with the volume of corpses. The government buried many in mass graves, some above-ground tombs were forced open so bodies could be stacked inside, and others were burned. Mass graves were dug in a large field outside the settlement of Titanyen, north of the capital; tens of thousands of bodies were reported as having been brought to the site by dump truck and buried in trenches dug by earth movers. Max Beauvoir, a Vodou priest, protested the lack of dignity in mass burials, stating, "... it is not in our culture to bury people in such a fashion, it is desecration".

Towns in the eastern Dominican Republic began preparing for tens of thousands of refugees, and by 16 January hospitals close to the border had been filled to capacity with Haitians. Some began reporting having expended stocks of critical medical supplies such as antibiotics by 17 January. The border was reinforced by Dominican soldiers, and the government of the Dominican Republic asserted that all Haitians who crossed the border for medical assistance would be allowed to stay only temporarily. A local governor stated, "We have a great desire and we will do everything humanly possible to help Haitian families. But we have our limitations with respect to food and medicine. We need the helping hand of other countries in the area."

Slow distribution of resources in the days after the earthquake resulted in sporadic violence, with looting reported. There were also accounts of looters wounded or killed by vigilantes and neighbourhoods that had constructed their own roadblock barricades. Dr Evan Lyon of Partners in Health, working at the General Hospital in Port-Au-Prince, claimed that misinformation and overblown reports of violence had hampered the delivery of aid and medical services.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton acknowledged the problems and said Americans should "not be deterred from supporting the relief effort" by upsetting scenes such as those of looting. Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command, however, announced that despite the stories of looting and violence, there was less violent crime in Port-au-Prince after the earthquake than before.

In many neighbourhoods, singing could be heard through the night and groups of men coordinated to act as security as groups of women attempted to take care of food and hygiene necessities. During the days following the earthquake, hundreds were seen marching through the streets in peaceful processions, singing and clapping.

The earthquake caused an urgent need for outside rescuers to communicate with Haitians whose main or only language is Haitian Creole. As a result, a machine translation program to translate between English and Haitian Creole had to be written quickly.

Casualties

The earthquake struck in the most populated area of the country. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimated that as many as 3 million people had been affected by the quake. On 10 February 2010, the Haitian government reported the death toll to have reached 230,000. On the first anniversary of the earthquake, 12 January 2011, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the death toll from the quake was more than 316,000, raising the figures from previous estimates.

Haitian authorities initially estimated that 300,000 had been injured and as many as one million Haitians were left homeless. However experts have questioned the validity of these numbers; Anthony Penna, professor emeritus in environmental history at Northeastern University, warned that casualty estimates could only be a "guesstimate", and Belgian disaster response expert Claude de Ville de Goyet noted that "round numbers are a sure sign that nobody knows." Edmond Mulet, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said, "I do not think we will ever know what the death toll is from this earthquake", while the director of the Haitian Red Cross, Guiteau Jean-Pierre, noted that his organization had not had the time to count bodies, as their focus had been on the treatment of survivors. The United States Agency for International Development concluded that the death toll was somewhere between 46,000 and 85,000.

While the vast majority of casualties were Haitian civilians, the dead included aid workers, embassy staff, foreign tourists—and a number of public figures, includeding Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, aid worker Zilda Arns and officials in the Haitian government, including opposition leader Michel "Micha" Gaillard. Also killed were a number of well-known Haitian musicians and sports figures, including thirty members of the Fédération Haïtienne de Football. At least 85 United Nations personnel working with MINUSTAH were killed, among them the Mission Chief, Hédi Annabi, his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa., and police commissioner Douglas Coates. Around 200 guests were killed in the collapse of the Hôtel Montana in Port-au-Prince.

Early response

Appeals for humanitarian aid were issued by many aid organizations, the United Nations and president René Préval. Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the United States, and his nephew, singer Wyclef Jean, who was called upon by Préval to become a "roving ambassador" for Haiti, also pleaded for aid and donations.

Many countries responded to the appeals and launched fund-raising efforts, as well as sending search and rescue teams. The neighbouring Dominican Republic was the first country to give aid to Haiti, sending water, food and heavy-lifting machinery. The hospitals in the Dominican Republic were made available; a combined effort of the Airports Department (DA), together with the Dominican Naval Auxiliaries, the UN and other parties formed the Dominican-Haitian Aerial Support Bridge, making the main Dominican airports available for support operations to Haiti. The Dominican website FlyDominicanRepublic.com made available to the internet, daily updates on airport information and news from the operations center on the Dominican side. The Dominican emergency team assisted more than 2,000 injured people, while the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel) helped with the restoration of some telephone services. The Dominican Red Cross coordinated early medical relief in conjunction with the International Red Cross. The government sent eight mobile medical units along with 36 doctors including orthopaedic specialists, traumatologists, anaesthetists, and surgeons. In addition, 39 trucks carrying canned food were dispatched, along with 10 mobile kitchens and 110 cooks capable of producing 100,000 meals per day.

Other nations from farther afield also sent personnel, medicines, materiel, and other aid to Haiti. The first team to arrive in Port-au-Prince was ICE-SAR from Iceland, landing within 24 hours of the earthquake. A 50-member Chinese team arrived early Thursday morning. From the Middle East, the government of Qatar sent a strategic transport aircraft (C-17), loaded with 50 tonnes of urgent relief materials and 26 members from the Qatari armed forces, the internal security force (Lekhwiya), police force and the Hamad Medical Corporation, to set up a field hospital and provide assistance in Port-au-Prince and other affected areas in Haiti. A rescue team sent by the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command established a field hospital near the United Nations building in Port-au-Prince with specialised facilities to treat children, the elderly, and women in labor. It was set up in eight hours and began operations on the evening of 16 January. A Korean International Disaster Relief Team with 40 rescuers, medical doctors, nurses and 2 k-9s was deployed to epicenters to assist mitigation efforts of Haitian Government. The team was required to stay 2 weeks at the sites.

The American Red Cross announced on 13 January that it had run out of supplies in Haiti and appealed for public donations. Giving Children Hope worked to get much-needed medicines and supplies on the ground. Partners in Health (PIH), the largest health care provider in rural Haiti was able to provide some emergency care from its ten hospitals and clinics all of which were outside the capital and undamaged. MINUSTAH had over 9,000 uniformed peacekeepers deployed to the area. Most of these workers were initially involved in the search for survivors at the organization's collapsed headquarters.

The International Charter on Space and Major Disasters was activated, allowing satellite imagery of affected regions to be shared with rescue and aid organizations. Members of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook spread messages and pleas to send help. Facebook was overwhelmed by—and blocked—some users who were sending messages about updates. The American Red Cross set a record for mobile donations, raising US$7 million in 24 hours when they allowed people to send US$10 donations by text messages. The OpenStreetMap community responded to the disaster by greatly improving the level of mapping available for the area using post-earthquake satellite photography provided by GeoEye, and tracking website Ushahidi coordinated messages from multiple sites to assist Haitians still trapped and to keep families of survivors informed. Some online poker sites hosted poker tournaments with tournament fees, prizes or both going to disaster relief charities. Google Earth updated its coverage of Port-au-Prince on 17 January, showing the earthquake-ravaged city.

Easing refugee immigration into Canada was discussed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and in the U.S. Haitians were granted Temporary Protected Status, a measure that permits about 100,000 illegal alien Haitians in the United States to stay legally for 18 months, and halts the deportations of 30,000 more, though it does not apply to Haitians outside the U.S. Local and state agencies in South Florida, together with the U.S. government, began implementing a plan ("Operation Vigilant Sentry") for a mass migration from the Caribbean that had been laid out in 2003.

Several orphanages were destroyed in the earthquake. After the process for the adoption of 400 children by families in the U.S. and the Netherlands was expedited, Unicef and SOS Children urged an immediate halt to adoptions from Haiti. Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children said: "The vast majority of the children currently on their own still have family members alive who will be desperate to be reunited with them and will be able to care for them with the right support. Taking children out of the country would permanently separate thousands of children from their families—a separation that would compound the acute trauma they are already suffering and inflict long-term damage on their chances of recovery." However, several organizations were planning an airlift of thousands of orphaned children to South Florida on humanitarian visas, modelled on a similar effort with Cuban refugees in the 1960s named "Pedro Pan". The Canadian government worked to expedite around 100 adoption cases that were already underway when the earthquake struck, issuing temporary permits and waving regular processing fees; the federal government also announced that it would cover adopted children's healthcare costs upon their arrival in Canada until they could be covered under provincially-administered public healthcare plans.

Rescue and relief efforts

Rescue efforts began in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, with able-bodied survivors extricating the living and the dead from the rubble of the many buildings that had collapsed. Treatment of the injured was hampered by the lack of hospital and morgue facilities: the Argentine military field hospital, which had been serving MINUSTAH, was the only one available until 13 January. Rescue work intensified only slightly with the arrival of doctors, police officers, military personnel and firefighters from various countries two days after the earthquake.

From 12 January, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been working in Haiti since 1994, has been focusing on bringing emergency assistance to victims of the catastrophe, in close cooperation with its partners within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, particularly the Haitian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Running short of medical supplies, some teams had to work with any available resources, constructing splints out of cardboard and reusing latex gloves. Other rescue units had to withdraw as night fell amid security fears. Over 3,000 people had been treated by Médecins Sans Frontières as of 18 January. Ophelia Dahl, director of Partners in Health, reported, "there are hundreds of thousands of injured people. I have heard the estimate that as many as 20,000 people will die each day that would have been saved by surgery."

An MSF aircraft carrying a field hospital was repeatedly turned away by U.S. air traffic controllers who had assumed control at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport. Four other MSF aircraft were also turned away. In a 19 January press release MSF said, "It is like working in a war situation. We don’t have any more morphine to manage pain for our patients. We cannot accept that planes carrying lifesaving medical supplies and equipment continue to be turned away while our patients die. Priority must be given to medical supplies entering the country." First responders voiced frustration with the number of relief trucks sitting unused at the airport. Aid workers blamed U.S.-controlled airport operations for prioritising the transportation of security troops over rescuers and supplies; evacuation policies favouring citizens of certain nations were also criticised.

The U.S. military acknowledged the non-governmental organizations' complaints concerning flight-operations bias and promised improvement while noting that up to 17 January 600 emergency flights had landed and 50 were diverted; by the first weekend of disaster operations diversions had been reduced to three on Saturday and two on Sunday. The airport was able to support 100 landings a day, up from the 35 a day that the airport gets during normal operation. A spokesman for the joint task force running the airport confirmed that though more flights were requesting landing slots, none were being turned away.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and French Minister of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet criticised the perceived preferential treatment for U.S. aid arriving at the airport, though a spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there had been no official protest from the French government with regard to the management of the airport. U.S. officials acknowledged that coordination of the relief effort is central to Haitian recovery, and President Préval asked for calm coordination between assisting nations without mutual accusations.

While the Port-au-Prince airport ramp has spaces for over a dozen airliners, in the days following the quake it sometimes served nearly 40 at once, creating serious delays. The supply backup at the airport was expected to ease as the apron management improved, and when the perceived need for heavy security diminished. Airport congestion was reduced further on 18 January when the United Nations and U.S. forces formally agreed to prioritise humanitarian flights over security reinforcement.

By 14 January, over 20 countries had sent military personnel to the country, with Canada, the United States and the Dominican Republic providing the largest contingents. The supercarrier arrived at maximum possible speed on 15 January with 600,000 emergency food rations, 100,000 ten-litre water containers, and an enhanced wing of 19 helicopters; 130,000 litres of drinking water were transferred to shore on the first day.

The helicopter carrier sailed with three large dock landing ships and two survey/salvage vessels, to create a "sea base" for the rescue effort. They were joined by the French Navy vessel ''Francis Garnier'' on 16 January, the same day the hospital ship and guided-missile cruiser left for Haiti. Another large French vessel was later ordered to Haiti, the amphibious transport dock ''Siroco''.

International rescue efforts were restricted by traffic congestion and blocked roads. Although U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates had previously ruled out dropping food and water by air as too dangerous, by 16 January, U.S. helicopters were distributing aid to areas impossible to reach by land.

In Jacmel, a city of 50,000, the mayor claimed that 70% of the homes had been damaged and that the quake had killed 300 to 500 people and left some 4,000 injured. The small airstrip suffered damage that rendered it unusable for supply flights until 20 January. The Canadian navy vessel HMCS ''Halifax'' was deployed to the area on 18 January; the Canadians joined Colombian rescue workers, Chilean doctors, a French mobile clinic, and Sri Lankan relief workers who had already responded to calls for aid.

About 64,000 people living in the three adjacent agricultural communities of Durissy, Morne a Chandelle, and Les Palmes were relatively unharmed because most of the people were working in the fields; but all churches, chapels and at least 8,000 homes were destroyed.

British search and rescue teams were the first to arrive in Léogane, the town at the epicentre of the quake, on 17 January. The Canadian ship HMCS ''Athabaskan'' reached the area on 19 January, and by 20 January there were 250-300 Canadian personnel assisting relief efforts in the town. By 19 January, staff of the International Red Cross had also managed to reach the town, which they described as "severely damaged ... the people there urgently need assistance", and by 20 January they had reached Petit-Goâve as well, where they set up two first-aid posts and distributed first-aid kits.

Over the first weekend 130,000 food packets and 70,000 water containers were distributed to Haitians, as safe landing areas and distribution centres such as golf courses were secured. There were nearly 2,000 rescuers present from 43 different groups, with 161 search dogs; the airport had handled 250 tons of relief supplies by the end of the weekend. Reports from Sunday showed a record-breaking number of successful rescues, with at least 12 survivors pulled from Port-au-Prince's rubble, bringing the total number of rescues to 110.

The buoy tender USCG ''Oak'' and were on scene by 18 January to assess damage to the port and work to reopen it, and by 21 January one pier at the Port-au-Prince seaport was functional, offloading humanitarian aid, and a road had been repaired to make transport into the city easier. In an interview on 21 January, Leo Merores, Haiti’s ambassador to the UN, said that he expected the port to be fully functional again within two weeks.

The U.S. Navy listed its resources in the area as "17 ships, 48 helicopters and 12 fixed-wing aircraft" in addition to 10,000 sailors and Marines. The Navy had conducted 336 air deliveries, delivered of water, 532,440 bottles of water, 111,082 meals and of medical supplies by 20 January. Hospital ship ''Comfort'' began operations on 20 January, completing the arrival of the first group of sea-base vessels; this came as a new flotilla of USN ships were assigned to Haiti, including survey vessels, ferries, elements of the maritime prepositioning and underway replenishment fleets, and a further three amphibious operations ships, including another helicopter carrier, .

On 22 January the UN and United States formalised the coordination of relief efforts by signing an agreement giving the U.S. responsibility for the ports, airports and roads, and making the UN and Haitian authorities responsible for law and order. The UN stated that it had resisted formalising the organization of the relief effort to allow as much leeway as possible for those wishing to assist in the relief effort, but with the new agreement "we’re leaving that emergency phase behind". The UN also urged organizations to coordinate aid efforts through its mission in Haiti to allow for better scheduling of the arrival of supplies. On 23 January the Haitian government officially called off the search for survivors, and most search and rescue teams began to prepare to leave the country. However, as late as 8 February 2010, survivors were still being discovered, as in the case of Evan Muncie, 28, found in the rubble of a grocery store.

On 5 February, ten Baptist missionaries from Idaho led by Laura Silsby were charged with criminal association and kidnapping for trying to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti. The missionaries claimed they were rescuing orphaned children but investigations revealed that more than 20 of the children had been taken from their parents after they were told the children would have a better life in America. In an interview, the United States Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Merten, stated that the U.S. justice system would not interfere and that "the Haitian justice system will do what it has to do." By 9 March 2010, all but Silsby were deported and she remained incarcerated.

Social networking is being (was) used to help the structure for coordination on the ground.

On 10 April, due to the potential threat of mudslides and flooding from the upcoming rainy season, the Haitian government began operations to move thousands of refugees to a more secure location north of the capital.

Recovery

U.S. President Barack Obama announced that former presidents Bill Clinton, who also acts as the UN special envoy to Haiti, and George W. Bush would coordinate efforts to raise funds for Haiti's recovery. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Haiti on 16 January to survey the damage and stated that US$48 million had been raised already in the U.S. to help Haiti recover. Following the meeting with Secretary Clinton, President Préval stated that the highest priorities in Haiti's recovery were establishing a working government, clearing roads, and ensuring the streets were cleared of bodies to improve sanitary conditions.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden stated on 16 January that President Obama "does not view this as a humanitarian mission with a life cycle of a month. This will still be on our radar screen long after it's off the crawler at CNN. This is going to be a long slog."

Trade and Industry Minister Josseline Colimon Fethiere estimated that the earthquake's toll on the Haitian economy would be massive, with one in five jobs lost. In response to the earthquake, foreign governments offered badly needed financial aid. The European Union promised €330 million (US$474 million) for emergency and long-term aid. Brazil announced R$375 million (US$210 million) for long-term recovery aid, US$15 million of which in immediate funds. The United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander called the result of the earthquake an "almost unprecedented level of devastation", and committed the UK to ₤20 million (US$32.7 million) in aid, while France promised €10 million (US$14.4 million). Italy announced it would waive repayment of the €40 million (US$55.7 million) it had loaned to Haiti, and the World Bank waived the country's debt repayments for five years. On 14 January, the U.S. government announced it would give US$100 million to the aid effort and pledged that the people of Haiti "will not be forgotten".

In the aftermath of the earthquake, the government of Canada announced that it would match the donations of Canadians up to a total of CAD$50 million. After a United Nations call for help for the people affected by the earthquake, Canada pledged an additional CAD$60 million (US$58 million) in aid on 19 January 2010, bringing Canada's total contribution to CAD$135 million (US$131.5 million). By 8 February 2010, the federal International Co-operation Department, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), had already provided about CAD$85 million in humanitarian aid through UN agencies, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and to organizations such as CARE, Médecins du Monde, Save the Children, Oxfam Quebec, the Centre for International Studies and Co-operation, and World Vision. On 23 January 2010, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the federal government had lifted the limit on the amount of money allocated for matching individual donations to relief efforts, and that the federal government would continue to match individual donations until 12 February 2010; by the deadline, Canadians had privately raised $220 million. On top of matching donations, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda pledged an additional CAD$290 million in long-term relief to be spent between 2010 and 2012, including CAD$8 million in debt relief to Haiti, part of a broader cancellation of the country's overall World Bank debt. The government's commitment to provide CAD$550 million in aid and debt relief and Canadians' individual donations amount to a total of CAD$770 million.

In addition to Canada's federal government, the governments of several of the provinces and territories of Canada also announced that they would provide immediate emergency aid to Haiti. On 18 January 2010, the province of Quebec, whose largest city - Montreal - houses the world's largest Haitian diaspora, pledged $3 million in emergency aid. Both the provincial government of Quebec and the Canadian federal government reaffirmed their commitment to rebuilding Haiti at the 2010 Francophonie Summit; Prime Minister Harper used his opening speech to "tell the head of the Haitian delegation to keep up their spirits" and to urge other nations to continue to support recovery efforts.

President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal offered interested Haitians free land in Senegal; depending on how many respond to the offer, this could include up to an entire region.

Prime Minister Bellerive announced that from 20 January, people would be helped to relocate outside the zone of devastation, to areas where they may be able to rely on relatives or better fend for themselves; people who have been made homeless would be relocated to the makeshift camps created by residents within the city, where a more focused delivery of aid and sanitation could be achieved. Port-au-Prince, according to an international studies professor at the University of Miami, was ill-equipped before the disaster to sustain the number of people who had migrated there from the countryside over the past ten years to find work. After the earthquake, thousands of Port-au-Prince residents began returning to the rural towns they came from.

On 25 January a one-day conference was held in Montreal to assess the relief effort and discuss further plans. Prime Minister Bellerive told delegates from 20 countries that Haiti would need "massive support" for its recovery from the international community. A donors' conference was expected to be held at the UN headquarters in New York in March, however, took more than three months to hold the UN conference. The 26-member international Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission, headed by Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, convened in June 2010. That committee is overseeing the $5.3 billion pledged internationally for the first two years of Haiti's reconstruction.

The Netherlands sponsored a project, called Radio555. The Dutch radio channels 3FM, Radio 538 and Radio Veronica all broadcast under the name of Radio555, funded by a contribution of €80 million (US$104.4 million).

Several organizations of the U.S. building industry and government, such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the International Code Council, among others, are compiling an "Haiti Toolkit" coordinated by the National Institute of Building Sciences. The Toolkit would comprise of building technology resources and best practices for consideration by the Haitian government with the goal of creating a more resilient infrastructure to prevent future losses of life.

Immediately following the earthquake, Real Medicine Foundation began providing medical staffing, in-kind medical supplies and strategic coordination to help meet the surging needs of the health crisis on the ground. Working in close partnership with other relief organizations, Real Medicine: Organized deployments of volunteer medical specialists to meet the needs of partner hospitals and clinics at the Haiti/Dominican Republic border and in Port-au-Prince, Provided direct funding, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to local health facilities and partner hospitals, Provided advisory services and coordination to local health facilities, including physical therapy support, Coordinated mobile health outreaches, field clinics and food supplies to outlying villages overlooked in the relief effort.

On 15 January 2011, the Catholic Relief Services announced a US$200 million, five-year relief and reconstruction program that covers shelter, health, livelihoods, and child protection among its program areas.

Status of the recovery

As of July 2010, as much as 98% of the rubble from the quake remained uncleared. An estimated 26 million cubic yards (20 million cubic meters) remained making most of the capital impassable, and thousands of bodies remained in the rubble. The number of people in relief camps of tents and tarps since the quake was 1.6 million, and almost no transitional housing had been built. Most of the camps had no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal, and the tents were beginning to fall apart. Crime in the camps was widespread, especially against women and girls. Between 23 major charities, $1.1 billion had been collected for Haiti for relief efforts, but only two percent of the money had been released. According to a CBS report, $3.1 billion had been pledged for humanitarian aid and was used to pay for field hospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers. By May 2010, enough aid had been raised internationally to give each displaced family a cheque for $37,000.

In July 2010, CNN returned to Port-au-Prince and reported, "It looks like the quake just happened yesterday", and Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the United Nations office of humanitarian affairs in Haiti, said that six months from that time it may still look the same. The Haitian government said it was unable to tackle debris clean-up or the resettlement of the homeless because it must prepare for the hurricane season. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive stated, "The real priority of the government is to protect the population from the next hurricane season, and most of our effort right now is going right now in that direction."

Speaking of the difficulties of living in one of the many camps, one refugee told a reporter, "They told us when we were coming here, that we would live well. But what we saw when we got here and the way we lived here, it’s the contrary. The place where we are here when it’s hot, the sun makes the tents hot, very hot. And also the wind comes and blows the tents and wrecks them". When asked what needs to happen now, he replied, "...In the situation we’re living here in the tents, we can’t continue like that anymore. We would ask them as soon as possible to give us the real houses that they said they were going to give us so that our situation could improve. Because the tents are torn, when it rains, rain comes in. We have very exemplary or a very indicative block, Block 6. It’s a zone which is completely unpassable when it rains".

Land ownership is a particular problem for rebuilding, because so many pre-quake homes were not officially registered. "Even before the national registry fell under the rubble, land tenure was always a complex and contentious issue in Haiti. Many areas of Port-au-Prince were settled either by tonton makout - Duvalier's death squads - given land for their service or by squatters. In many cases land ownership was never officially registered. Even if this logistical logjam were to be cleared, the vast majority of Port-au-Prince residents, up to 85%, did not own their homes before the earthquake."

As of September 2010, there were over one million refugees living in tents and the humanitarian situation was characterized as still being in the emergency phase, according to the Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, Archbishop Bernard Auza. He went on to say that instead of diminishing, the number was on the rise. He reported that the state has decided to first rebuild downtown Port-au-Prince and a new government center, however reconstruction itself had not yet begun.

In October 2010, Refugees International criticised the aid agencies for being "dysfunctional" and "inexperienced". "The people of Haiti are still living in a state of emergency, with a humanitarian response that appears paralysed. Gang leaders or land owners are intimidating the displaced. Sexual, domestic, and gang violence in and around the camps is rising. Action is urgently needed to protect the basic human rights of people displaced by the earthquake." They claimed that rape of Haitian women and girls who have been living in camps since the January earthquake is increasing, in part, because the United Nations isn’t doing enough to protect them. In October, a cholera epidemic broke out, probably introduced by foreign aid workers. Cholera most often affects poor countries with limited access to clean water and proper sanitation. By the end of 2010, more than 3,333 had died at a rate of about 50 deaths a day.

A few days before the first anniversary of the quake, Oxfam published a report on the status of the recovery. According to the report, relief and recovery are at a standstill due to inaction from the government and indecision on the part of the donor countries. The report states, "One year on, only five percent of the rubble has been cleared and only 15 percent of the required basic and temporary houses have been built. House building on a large scale cannot be started before the enormous amount of rubble is cleared. The government and donors must prioritize this most basic step toward helping people return home". Robert Fox, executive director with Oxfam Canada, said "The dysfunction has been aided unabated by the way the international community has organized itself, where pledges have been made and they haven't followed through [and] where they come to the table with their own agendas and own priorities. Most donors provided funds for transitional housing but very little money for clearing rubble or repairing houses". Fox states that in many instances rubble removal "means it was [moved] off someone's property onto the road in front of the property".

According to a UNICEF report, "Still today more than one million people remain displaced, living in crowded camps where livelihoods, shelter and services are still hardly sufficient for children to stay healthy". The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission was set up in April 2010 and led by former US President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive to facilitate the flow of funds toward reconstruction projects and to help Haitian ministries with implementation. As of January 2011, no major reconstruction has started. Amnesty International reported that armed men prey with impunity on girls and women in displacement camps, worsening the trauma of having lost homes, livelihoods and loved ones.

On the first anniversary of the earthquake, Haitian-born Michaëlle Jean, who served as the Governor General of Canada at the time of the disaster and who was installed as Special Envoy for Haiti for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 8 November 2010, voiced her anger at the slow rate of aid delivery, placing much of the blame on the international community for abandonning its commitments. In a public letter co-authored with Irina Bokova, the head of UNESCO, Jean said, "As time passes, what began as a natural disaster is becoming a disgraceful reflection on the international community."

Disputed figures controversy

On May 31, 2011, BBC News reported that a new report challenges Haiti earthquake death toll. "Significantly fewer people died or were left homeless by last year's earthquake in Haiti than claimed by the country's leaders, a draft report commissioned by the US government has said. The unpublished report puts the death toll between 46,000 and 85,000. Haiti's government says about 316,000 died. It also suggests many of those still living in tent cities did not lose their homes in the disaster. The draft report, which has yet to be released publicly, is based on a survey commissioned by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and draws its numbers from door-to-door surveys carried out over 29 days in January 2011."

Richard Garfield, a professor of public health at Columbia University, and researchers from the Center for Disaster Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden also dispute the Haitian government's figures. Said Garfield in accusing global aid groups of inflating death tolls to boost donor interest, "Bigger numbers mean some greater potential fundraising ability. The mentality is if everybody else is inflating their numbers, we can't be left out."

See also

1692 Jamaica earthquake

1972 Nicaragua earthquake

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami

2010 Chile earthquake

List of natural disasters in Haiti

Lists of earthquakes

J/P Haitian Relief Organization

References

Further reading

External links

The CCCM Cluster in Haiti, Situation, Information, Maps, Publication, Toolkits

The ICRC in Haiti, Features, photos, videos

Bound by Haiti film

We Hear Your Voice

Illustration -Major earthquakes in the Caribbean since the 1600s and Haiti earthquake NY Times

Haiti Learning and Accountability Portal Overview of ongoing and planned evaluation and accountability efforts by aid agencies operating in Haiti

Aid-workers, academics and journalists discuss the social context of the earthquake and international response The Frontline Club, February 2010

Haiti earthquake Haiti Earthquake, 2010 Category:Earthquakes in Haiti

ar:زلزال هايتي 2010 zh-min-nan:2010 nî Haiti tē-tāng bs:Potres na Haitiju 2010. bg:Земетресение в Хаити (2010) ca:Terratrèmol d'Haití del 2010 cs:Zemětřesení na Haiti 2010 cy:Daeargryn Haiti 2010 da:Jordskælvet i Haiti 2010 de:Erdbeben in Haiti 2010 et:2010. aasta Haiti maavärin el:Σεισμός στην Αϊτή το 2010 es:Terremoto de Haití de 2010 eo:Tertremo en Haitio en 2010 eu:2010eko Haitiko lurrikara fa:زمین‌لرزه هائیتی (۲۰۱۰) fr:Séisme de 2010 à Haïti gd:Crith-thalmhainn Haiti 2010 ko:2010년 아이티 지진 hy:Հայիթիի երկրաշարժ (2010) hi:२०१० हैती भूकम्प hr:Potres na Haitiju 2010. id:Gempa bumi Haiti 2010 is:Jarðskjálftinn á Haítí 2010 it:Terremoto di Haiti del 2010 he:רעידת האדמה בהאיטי (2010) kk:Гаити жер сілкінісі (2010) sw:Tetemeko la ardhi nchini Haiti 2010 ht:Tranblemanntè 12 janvye 2010 nan peyi Ayiti lad:טירימוטו אין איטי 2010 lv:2010. gada Haiti zemestrīce lt:2010 m. žemės drebėjimas Haityje hu:2010-es haiti földrengés mk:Земјотрес на Хаити (2010) mg:Horohorontany any Haiti tamin'ny 26 Janoary 2010 ml:2010 ഹെയ്റ്റി ഭൂകമ്പം mr:२०१० हैती भूकंप ms:Gempa bumi Haiti 2010 my:၂၀၁၀ ဟေတီငလျင် nl:Aardbeving Haïti 2010 ja:ハイチ地震 (2010年) no:Jordskjelvet i Haiti 2010 nn:Jordskjelvet i Haiti 2010 pl:Trzęsienie ziemi na Haiti (2010) pt:Sismo do Haiti de 2010 ro:Cutremurul din Haiti (2010) qu:Aytipi pacha kuyuy (2010) ru:Землетрясение на Гаити (2010) sq:Tërmeti në Haiti (2010) simple:2010 Haiti earthquake sk:Zemetrasenie na Haiti 12. januára 2010 sl:Potres na Haitiju (2010) szl:Trzyńśyńy źymje na Hajiti we 2010 ckb:بوومەلەرزەی ھایتی ٢٠١٠ sr:Земљотрес на Хаитију 2010. fi:Haitin maanjäristys 2010 sv:Jordbävningen i Haiti 2010 tl:Lindol sa Hayti noong 2010 ta:2010 எயிட்டி நிலநடுக்கம் th:แผ่นดินไหวในเฮติ พ.ศ. 2553 tr:2010 Haiti Depremi uk:Землетрус на Гаїті 2010 ur:زلزلۂ ہیٹی 2010ء vi:Động đất Haiti 2010 zh-yue:2010年海地地震 zh:2010年海地地震

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Native name
Conventional long name	Republic of Haiti
Common name	Haiti
Image coat	Coat of arms of Haiti.svg
National motto	''Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité''
National anthem	''La Dessalinienne''''The Dessalines Song''
Official languages	French, Haitian Creole
Demonym	Haitian
Ethnic groups	95% black, 5% mulatto and white
Capital	Port-au-Prince
Largest city	capital
Government type	Semi-presidential republic
Leader title1	President
Leader name1	Michel Martelly
Leader title2	Prime Minister
Leader name2	Daniel-Gérard Rouzier
Area rank	140th
Area magnitude	1 E10
Area km2	27,750
Area sq mi	10,714
Percent water	0.7
Population estimate	9,719,932
Population estimate rank	87th
Population estimate year	2011
Population density km2	350.27
Population density sq mi	907.22
Gdp ppp	$11.477 billion
Gdp ppp year	2010
Gdp ppp per capita	$1,164
Gdp nominal	$6.632 billion
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$673
Sovereignty type	Formation
Established event1	French colony declared(''Treaty of Ryswick'')
Established date1	30 October 1697
Established event2	Independence declared
Established date2	1 January 1804
Established event3	Independence recognized from France
Established date3	17 April 1825
Hdi	0.404
Hdi rank	145th
Hdi year	2010
Hdi category	low
Gini	59.2
Gini year	2001
Gini category	high
Currency	Gourde
Currency code	HTG
Utc offset	-5
Drives on	right
Cctld	.ht
Calling code	509}}

Haiti (; French ''Haïti'', ; Haitian Creole: ''Ayiti'', ), officially the Republic of Haiti (; ) is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. ''Ayiti'' (''land of high mountains'') was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at . The total area of Haiti is and its capital is Port-au-Prince. Haitian Creole and French are the official languages.

Haiti's regional, historical, and ethno-linguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation in Latin America and the first black-led republic in the world when it gained independence as part of a successful slave revolution in 1804. Despite having common cultural links with its Hispano-Caribbean neighbors, Haiti is the only predominantly Francophone independent nation in the Americas. It is one of only two independent nations in the Americas (along with Canada) that designate French as an official language; the other French-speaking areas are all overseas ''départements'', or ''collectivités'', of France.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas as per the Human Development Index. It has experienced political violence throughout its history. Most recently, in February 2004, an armed rebellion forced the resignation and exile of previous President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and a provisional government took control with security provided by the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Michel Martelly, the current president, was elected in the Haitian general election, 2011.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti and devastated Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. Although the exact number was difficult to determine, the highest unbiased source estimated 220,000 people were killed. Haitian government estimates were higher. The Presidential palace, Parliament and many other important structures were destroyed, along with countless homes and businesses, leaving many homeless. Due to its severity, the country has yet to recover from this and subsequent disasters.

History

Precolonial and Spanish colonial periods

The island of Hispaniola, of which Haiti occupies the western third, is one of many Caribbean islands inhabited at the time of European arrival by the Taíno Indians, speakers of an Arawakan language. The Taíno name for the entire island was either ''Ayiti'' or ''Kiskeya''. In the Taíno societies of the Caribbean Islands, the largest unit of political organization was led by a ''cacique''; hence the term 'caciquedom' (French ''caciquat'', Spanish ''cacicazgo'') for these Taíno polities, which are often called "chiefdoms". Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the island of Hispaniola was divided among five or six long-established caciquedoms.

The caciquedoms were tributary kingdoms, with payment consisting of harvests. Taíno cultural artifacts include cave paintings in several locations in the country, which have become national symbols of Haiti and tourist attractions. Modern-day Léogane, a town in the southwest, is at the site of Xaragua's former capital.

Christopher Columbus landed at Môle Saint-Nicolas on December 5, 1492, and claimed the island for Spain. Nineteen days later, his ship the ''Santa María'' ran aground near the present site of Cap-Haïtien; Columbus was forced to leave behind 39 men, founding the settlement of La Navidad. Following the destruction of La Navidad by the local indigenous people, Columbus moved to the eastern side of the island and established La Isabela. One of the earliest leaders to fight off Spanish conquest was Queen ''Anacaona'', a princess of ''Xaragua'' who married ''Caonabo'', the cacique of ''Maguana''. The couple resisted Spanish rule in vain; she was captured by the Spanish and executed in front of her people. To this day, Queen Anacaona is revered in Haiti as one of the country's founders.

The Spanish exploited the island for its gold, mined chiefly by local Amerindians directed by the Spanish occupiers. Those refusing to work in the mines were killed or sold into slavery. Europeans brought with them infectious diseases that were new to the Caribbean, to which the indigenous population lacked immunity. These new diseases were the chief cause of the dying off of the Taíno, but ill treatment, malnutrition, and a drastic drop in the birthrate as a result of societal disruption also contributed. The first recorded smallpox outbreak in the Americas occurred on Hispaniola in 1507.

The Laws of Burgos, 1512–1513, were the first nationally codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in America, particularly with regards to native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, endorsed their conversion to Catholicism, and legalized the colonial practice of creating encomiendas, where Indians were grouped together to work under colonial masters. The Spanish crown found it difficult to enforce these laws in a distant colony.

The Spanish governors began importing enslaved Africans for labor. In 1517, Charles V authorized the draft of slaves. The Taínos became virtually, but not completely, extinct on the island of Hispaniola. Some who evaded capture fled to the mountains and established independent settlements. Survivors mixed with escaped African slaves (runaways called ''maroons'') and produced a multiracial generation called ''zambos''. French settlers later called people of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry ''marabou''. The ''mestizo'' were children born to relationships between native women and European – usually Spanish – men. During French rule, children of mixed race, usually born of unions between African women and European men, were called ''mulâtres''.

As a gateway to the Caribbean, Hispaniola became a haven for pirates. The western part of the island was settled by French buccaneers. Among them was Bertrand d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco. His success prompted many of the numerous buccaneers and freebooters to turn into settlers. This population did not submit to Spanish royal authority until the year 1660 and caused a number of conflicts. By 1640, the buccaneers of Tortuga were calling themselves the ''Brethren of the Coast''. French pirate Jean Lafitte, who operated in New Orleans and Galveston, was born in Port-au-Prince around 1782.

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who might have been born in St Marc, Saint-Domingue in 1745, established a fur trading post at present-day Chicago, Illinois of which he can be considered one of the founders. John James Audubon, the renowned ornithologist and painter, was born in 1785 in Les Cayes, Saint-Domingue and painted, cataloged and described the birds of North America.

In 1779, more than 500 volunteers from Saint-Domingue, under the command of Comte d'Estaing, fought alongside American colonial troops against the British in the Siege of Savannah, one of the most significant foreign contributions to the American Revolutionary War.

17th century settlement

Bertrand d'Orgeron attracted many colonists from Martinique and Guadeloupe, such as the Roy family (Jean Roy, 1625–1707); Hebert (Jean Hebert, 1624, with his family) and Barre (Guillaume Barre, 1642, with his family). They and others were driven from their lands when more land was needed for the extension of the sugar plantations. From 1670 to 1690, a drop in the tobacco markets significantly reduced the number of settlers on the island.

The first windmill for processing sugar was built in 1685.

Treaty of Ryswick and slave colony (1697)

France and Spain settled hostilities on the island by the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, which divided Hispaniola between them. France received the western third and subsequently named it Saint-Domingue (not the current Santo-Domingo, which is in the Dominican Republic and was part of the eastern side given to the Spanish through the treaty). Many French colonists soon arrived and established plantations in Saint-Domingue due to high profit potential. By 1789, there were approximately 40,000 French immigrants on the western part of the island, while by 1763 the French population of Canada numbered only 65,000.

By about 1790, Saint-Domingue had greatly overshadowed its eastern counterpart in terms of wealth and population. It quickly became the richest French colony in the New World due to the immense profits from the sugar, coffee and indigo industries. This outcome was made possible by the labor and knowledge of thousands of enslaved Africans who brought to the island skills and technology for indigo production. The French-enacted ''Code Noir'' ("Black Code"), prepared by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and ratified by Louis XIV, established rigid rules on slave treatment and permissible freedom. Saint-Domingue has been described as one of the most brutally efficient slave colonies; one-third of newly imported Africans died within a few years.

Revolution (1791)

Inspired by the French Revolution and principles of the rights of men, free people of colour and slaves in Saint-Domingue and the French and West Indies pressed for freedom and more civil rights. Most important was the revolution of the slaves in Saint-Domingue, starting in the heavily African-majority northern plains in 1791. In 1792, the French government sent three commissioners with troops to reestablish control. They began to build an alliance with the free people of colour who wanted more civil rights. In 1793, France and Great Britain went to war, and British troops invaded Saint-Domingue. The execution of Louis XVI heightened tensions in the colony. To build an alliance with the ''gens de couleur'' and slaves, the French commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel abolished slavery in the colony. Six months later, the National Convention led by Robespierre and the Jacobins endorsed abolition and extended it to all the French colonies.

Toussaint Louverture, a former slave and leader in the slave revolt—a man who rose in importance as a military commander because of his many skills—achieved peace in 1794 in Saint-Domingue after years of war against both external invaders and internal dissension. Having established a disciplined, flexible army, Louverture drove out not only the Spanish but also the British invaders who threatened the colony. He restored stability and prosperity by daring measures that included inviting planters to return and insisting freed men work on plantations to renew revenues for the island. He also renewed trading ties with Great Britain and the United States. In the uncertain years of revolution, the United States played both sides, with traders supplying both the French and the rebels.

Independence and Division (1804)

When the French government changed, new members of the national legislature – lobbied by planters – began to rethink their decisions on colonial slavery. After Toussaint Louverture created a separatist constitution, Napoléon Bonaparte sent an expedition of 20,000 men under the command of his brother-in-law, General Charles Leclerc, to retake the island. Leclerc's mission was to oust Louverture and restore slavery. The French achieved some victories, but within a few months, yellow fever had killed most of the French soldiers. More than 50,000 French troops died in an attempt to retake colony, including 18 generals. Leclerc invited Toussaint Louverture to a parley, kidnapped him and sent him to France, where he was imprisoned at Fort de Joux. He died there in 1803 of exposure and tuberculosis or malnutrition and pneumonia.

Slaves, along with free ''gens de couleur'' and allies continued their fight for independence after the French transported Louverture to France. The native leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines – long an ally and general of Toussaint Louverture, brilliant strategist and soldier – defeated French troops led by Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau, at the Battle of Vertières. At the end of the double battle for emancipation and independence, former slaves proclaimed the independence of Saint-Domingue on 1 January 1804, declaring the new nation be named "Ayiti", both a Native American and African term, meaning "home or mother of the earth" in the Taino-Arawak Native American language and "sacred earth or homeland" in the Fon African language, to honor one of the indigenous Taíno names for the island. Haiti is the only nation born of a slave revolt. Haiti's perseverance and successful resistance against colonial forces would influence the future of the United States Civil War. Historians have estimated the slave rebellion resulted in the death of 100,000 blacks and 24,000 of the 40,000 white colonists. In February 2010, the eight-page document containing the official Declaration of Independence, which was believed to have been destroyed or thrown out, was found by a Canadian graduate student from Duke University in Britain's National Archives. Coming as it did soon after the 2010 devastating earthquake, the discovery is seen by many to be providential.

The revolution in Saint-Domingue unleashed a massive multiracial exodus: French Créole colonists fled with those slaves they still held, as did numerous free people of color, some of whom were also slaveholders and transported slaves with them. In 1809, nearly 10,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue arrived from Cuba, where they had first fled, to settle ''en masse'' in New Orleans. They doubled that city's population and helped preserve its French language and culture for several generations. In addition, the newly arrived slaves added to the city's African and multiracial culture.

Dessalines was proclaimed "Emperor for Life" by his troops. He exiled or killed the remaining whites and ruled as a despot. In the continuing competition for power, he was assassinated on 17 October 1806. The country was then divided between a kingdom in the north directed by Henri I; and a republic in the south directed by Alexandre Pétion, an ''homme de couleur''. Henri I is best known for constructing the ''Citadelle Laferrière'', the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere, to defend the island against the French. Despite opposition from the mulatto populace, Henri Christophe successfully united Northern Haiti for a period of time under a semi-feudal corvée system, establishing a rigid education and economic code aimed at sustainable improvement for all Haitians.

In 1815, Simón Bolívar, the South American political leader who was instrumental in Latin America's struggle for independence from Spain, received military and financial assistance from Haiti. Bolívar had fled to Haiti after an attempt had been made on his life in Jamaica, where he had unsuccessfully sought support for his efforts. In 1817, on condition that Bolívar free any enslaved people he encountered in his fight for South American independence, Haitian president Alexandre Pétion provided Bolívar with soldiers, weapons and financial assistance, which were critical in enabling him to liberate the Viceroyalty of New Granada (Now Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela).

Reunification

Beginning in 1821, President Jean Pierre Boyer, also an ''homme de couleur'' and successor to Pétion, managed to reunify the two parts of St. Domingue and extend control over the western part of the island. In addition, after Santo Domingo declared its independence from Spain, Boyer sent forces in to take control. Boyer then ruled the entire island. According to ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', "During his presidency, Boyer tried to halt the downward trend of the economy — which had begun with the successful revolt of black slaves against their French masters in the 1790s — by passing the Code Rural. Its provisions sought to tie the peasant labourers to plantation land by denying them the right to leave the land, enter the towns, or start farms or shops of their own and by creating a rural constabulary to enforce the code."

During Boyer's administration, his government negotiated with Loring D. Dewey, an agent of the American Colonization Society (ACS), to encourage free blacks from the United States to emigrate to Haiti. They hoped to gain people with skills to contribute to the independent nation. In the early 19th century, the ACS – an uneasy blend of abolitionists and slaveholders – proposed resettlement of American free blacks to other countries, primarily to a colony in Liberia, as a solution to problems of racism in the US. Starting in September 1824, more than 6,000 American free blacks migrated to Haiti, with transportation paid by the ACS. Due to the poverty and other difficult conditions there, many returned to the US within a short time.

In July 1825, King Charles X of France sent a fleet of 14 vessels and thousands of troops to reconquer the island. Under pressure, President Boyer agreed to a treaty by which France formally recognized the independence of the nation in exchange for a payment of 150 million francs (reduced to 90 million in 1838) – an indemnity for profits lost from the slave trade. French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher wrote, "Imposing an indemnity on the victorious slaves was equivalent to making them pay with money that which they had already paid with their blood."

After losing the support of Haiti's elite, Boyer was ousted in 1843. A long succession of coups followed his departure to exile. National authority was disputed by factions of the army, the elite class, and the growing commercial class, increasingly made up of numerous immigrant businessmen: Germans, Americans, French and English.

In 1912, Syrians residing in Haiti participated in a plot in which the Presidential Palace was destroyed. On more than one occasion, French, US, German and British forces allegedly claimed large sums of money from the vaults of the National Bank of Haiti. Expatriates bankrolled and armed opposing groups.

In addition, national governments intervened in Haitian affairs. In 1892, the German government supported suppression of the reform movement of Anténor Firmin. In January 1914, British, German and US forces entered Haiti, ostensibly to protect their citizens from civil unrest.

1915–1934

In an expression of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, the United States occupied the island in 1915 and US Marines were stationed in the country until 1934. According to Munro, treaties in 1915 and 1917 gave the U.S. State and Navy departments (and the Navy's Marine Corps) effective control over key government roles; the U.S. assumed responsibility for maintaining domestic peace and put down several small rebellions such as the "Cacos" uprising. Haiti had huge debts, which were refinanced by new loans from the National City Bank of New York, and paid off by American government officials who took control of customs and the national budget. The U.S. transformed the Garde into a modern police force and built up advanced public health, education, ports and roads. The U.S. Marines supervised the operations of a client Haitian government, and emphasized American-style modernization of the infrastructure and universal education. Haitian traditionalists were highly resistant to these changes while the urban elites wanted more control. Together they helped force an end to the occupation in 1934. President Herbert Hoover sent a commission that set up a plan of withdrawal that was achieved under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The first step was a gradual, systematic turnover of government functions to the Haitian government; in 1934 it took control of the Garde and the Marines departed. The debts were still outstanding and the American financial advisor-general receiver handled the budget until 1941.

In 1915, Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave was elected president. He was succeeded by Louis Borno in the 1922 elections. Borno worked closely with the Americans. Aware that many Haitians did not speak French, he was the first president to authorize the use of Creole in the education system. Sisal fiber cultivation was introduced to Haiti, and sugar and cotton became significant exports. Recognition of the distinctive traditionalism of the Haitian people had a sharp impact on black writers in the U.S. (as well as white writers exploring black themes), including Eugene O'Neill, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Orson Welles.

1934–1956

The US occupation forces established a boundary between Haiti and the Dominican Republic by taking disputed land from the latter. After the US left in 1934, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo – in an event known as the Parsley Massacre – ordered his Army to kill Haitians living on the Dominican side of the border. In a "three-day genocidal spree", he murdered between 10,000 and 20,000 Haitians. He then developed a uniquely Dominican policy of racial discrimination, Antihaitianismo ("anti-Haitianism"), targeting the mostly black inhabitants of his neighboring country.

Sténio Vincent was succeeded as President in 1941 by Élie Lescot. In 1949, Lescot tried to change the constitution to allow for his own reelection, but in 1950 this triggered another coup. General Paul Magloire led the country until December 1956, when he was forced to resign by a general strike. After a period of disorder, an election held in September 1957 saw Dr. François Duvalier elected President.

1957–1986

From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was governed by the hereditary dictatorship of the Duvalier family.

Former minister of health and labor François Duvalier, known as "Papa Doc" and initially popular among the blacks, was the President of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. A strong believer in the rights of the Haitian black majority, he advanced black interests in the public sector. He stayed in power by enlisting an organization known as ''Tontons Macoutes'' ("Bogeymen"), which maintained order by terrorizing the populace.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Haiti's diaspora made vital contributions to the establishment of francophone Africa's newly independent countries as Haiti's university professors, medical doctors, administrators and development specialists emigrated to these countries.

"Papa Doc" was succeeded by his son (born July 3, 1951) Jean-Claude Duvalier – known also as "Bébé Doc" – who led the country from 1971 until his ouster in 1986. In 1986, protests against "Baby Doc" led him to seek exile in France. Army leader General Henri Namphy headed a new National Governing Council.

In March 1987, a new Constitution was overwhelmingly approved by Haiti's population. General elections in November were aborted after dozens of inhabitants were shot in the capital by soldiers and Tonton Macoute, and scores more were massacred around the country. Fraudulent military-controlled elections followed, boycotted by opposition candidates, and the elected President, Leslie Manigat, was overthrown some months later in the June 1988 Haitian coup d'état when he sought to assert his constitutional control over the military. The September 1988 Haitian coup d'état followed after the St Jean Bosco massacre brought to the fore the increasing prominence of former Tontons Macoutes, and General Prosper Avril led a military regime until March 1990. Throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s, leading members of the military, intelligence and police were involved in the illegal drug trade in Haiti, assisting Colombian drug traffickers smuggling drugs into the United States.

1990s

In December 1990, the former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected President in the Haitian general election, winning more than two thirds of the vote. His 5-year mandate began on 7 February 1991, having survived a coup attempt even before his inauguration, when former Tonton Macoute leader Roger Lafontant seized the provisional President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and declared himself President. After large numbers of Aristide supporters filled the streets in protest and Lafontant attempted to declare martial law, the Army crushed the incipient coup.

During Aristide's short-lived first period in office, he attempted to carry out substantial reforms, which brought passionate opposition from Haiti's business and military elite. His relationship with the National Assembly soon deteriorated, partly over his selection of his friend René Préval as Prime Minister. In September, Aristide was overthrown in the 1991 Haitian coup d'état, led by Army General Raoul Cédras, and flown into exile. Elections were scheduled, but then cancelled. The Organization of American States condemned the coup, and the United Nations set up a trade embargo. A campaign of terror against Aristide supporters was started by Emmanuel Constant. In 1993, Constant, who had been on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's payroll as an informant since 1992, organized the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti (FRAPH), which targeted and killed an estimated 5000 Aristide supporters.

In 1994, an American team, under the direction of the Clinton Administration, successfully negotiated the departure of Haiti's military leaders and the peaceful entry of US forces under Operation Uphold Democracy, thereby paving the way for the restoration of Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president. In October 1994, Aristide returned to Haiti to complete his term in office. Aristide disbanded the Haitian army, and established a civilian police force.

Aristide vacated the presidency in February 1996, the scheduled end of his 5-year term based on the date of his inauguration. In the 1995 election, René Préval was elected as president for a five-year term, winning 88% of the popular vote. Préval had previously served as Aristide's Prime Minister from February to October 1991.

21st century

The November 2000 election gave the presidency back to Aristide with an overwhelming 92% of the vote. The election had been boycotted by the opposition, now organised into the Convergence Démocratique, over a dispute in the May legislative elections. In subsequent years, there was increasing violence and human rights abuses. Aristide supporters attacked the opposition. Aristide spent years negotiating with the Convergence Démocratique on new elections, but the Convergence's inability to develop a sufficient electoral base made elections unattractive.

In 2004, a revolt began in northern Haiti. The rebellion eventually reached the capital; and Aristide was forced into exile, whereupon the United Nations stationed peacekeepers in Haiti. Much evidence points to a key U.S. role in Aristide's ouster, with Aristide and his bodyguard, Franz Gabriel, claiming that he was the victim of a "new coup d'état or modern kidnapping" by U.S. forces. Mrs. Aristide stated that the kidnappers wore US Special Forces uniforms, but changed into civilian clothes upon boarding the aircraft that was used to remove Aristide from Haiti. Boniface Alexandre assumed interim authority. René Préval was elected President in February 2006, following elections marked by uncertainties and popular demonstrations. The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (also known as MINUSTAH) remains in the country, having been there since the 2004 Haiti Rebellion. The United States led a vast international campaign to prevent Aristide from returning to his country while he was exiled in South Africa. Released Wikileaks cables show that high-level U.S. and U.N. officials coordinated a politically motivated prosecution of Aristide to prevent him from "gaining more traction with the Haitian population and returning to Haiti." The United States and its allies allegedly poured tens of millions of dollars into unsuccessful efforts to slander Aristide as a drug trafficker, human rights violator, and heretical practitioner of voodoo.

Michèle Pierre-Louis was the second female Prime Minister of Haiti (September 2008-Nov. 2009). Claudette Werleigh (1995–1996) was the first.

2010–2011: Earthquake, cholera, and flood events

The 2010 Haiti earthquake left up to 316,000 people dead and 1.6 million homeless. Massive homelessness and displacement continues and does not appear to have significantly abated. Non-Haitian sources have placed the death toll from 50,000 to 92,000 . Government agencies were also hard hit. Two days afterwards thousands of U.S. troops arrived to aid in the earthquake relief effort and relief agencies are playing a large role in rebuilding Haiti's infrastructure, while taking care of the short-term emergency needs of the many injured and displaced Haitians. In October 2010 a cholera epidemic was identified, a disease thought to be accidentally introduced by aid workers from abroad. More than 3,500 people in a region to the north of Port-au-Prince were treated for diarrhea, acute fever, vomiting, and severe dehydration. There were fears the outbreak would reach camps housing survivors of the earthquake.

There were initial protests against the U.N. peacekeeping forces because of their suspected role in introducing cholera. These led to violent attacks on November 15, 2010. The cholera outbreak had, at that point, killed around 900 people, and sickened around 15,000. Many Haitian people alleged that the strain may have come from the Nepalese peacekeepers, who have a base on the Artibonite river, but the U.N. did not want the Haitian people to come to conclusions and blame the Nepalese based on "misinformation". The last cholera outbreak in Haiti was forty years ago, and "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the cholera strain now ravaging the country matched a strain specific to South Asia, but said they had not pinpointed its origin or how it arrived in Haiti."

General elections had been planned for January 2010, but were postponed due to the earthquake. The elections were held on 28 November 2010 for senate, parliament and the first round of the presidential elections. The run-off between Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat took place on 20 March 2011, and preliminary results, released on 4 April, named Martelly the winner.

Geography

Haiti is on the western part of Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Greater Antilles. Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean behind Cuba and the Dominican Republic (the latter shares a border with Haiti). Haiti at its closest point is only about away from Cuba and has the second longest coastline () in the Greater Antilles, Cuba having the longest. The country lies mostly between latitudes 18° and 20°N (Tortuga island lies just north of 20°), and longitudes 71° and 75°W. Haiti's terrain consists mainly of rugged mountains interspersed with small coastal plains and river valleys.

The northern region consists of the ''Massif du Nord'' (Northern Massif) and the ''Plaine du Nord'' (Northern Plain). The ''Massif du Nord'' is an extension of the ''Cordillera Central'' in the Dominican Republic. It begins at Haiti's eastern border, north of the Guayamouc River, and extends to the northwest through the northern peninsula. The lowlands of the ''Plaine du Nord'' lie along the northern border with the Dominican Republic, between the ''Massif du Nord'' and the North Atlantic Ocean. The central region consists of two plains and two sets of mountain ranges. The ''Plateau Central'' (Central Plateau) extends along both sides of the Guayamouc River, south of the ''Massif du Nord''. It runs from the southeast to the northwest. To the southwest of the ''Plateau Central'' are the ''Montagnes Noires'', whose most northwestern part merges with the ''Massif du Nord''. Its westernmost point is known as Cap Carcasse.

The southern region consists of the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac (the southeast) and the mountainous southern peninsula (also known as the Tiburon Peninsula). The Plaine du Cul-de-Sac is a natural depression that harbors the country's saline lakes, such as Trou Caïman and Haiti's largest lake, Lac Azuéi. The Chaîne de la Selle mountain range – an extension of the southern mountain chain of the Dominican Republic (the Sierra de Baoruco) – extends from the Massif de la Selle in the east to the Massif de la Hotte in the west. This mountain range harbors Pic la Selle, the highest point in Haiti at *

The country's most important valley in terms of crops is the Plaine de l'Artibonite, which is oriented south of the Montagnes Noires. This region supports the country's (also Hispaniola's) longest river, the Riviere l'Artibonite, which begins in the western region of the Dominican Republic and continues most of its length through central Haiti and onward where it empties into the Golfe de la Gonâve. The eastern and central region of the island is a large elevated plateau. Haiti also includes various offshore islands. The historically famous island of Tortuga (Île de la Tortue) is located off the coast of northern Haiti. The arrondissement of La Gonâve is located on the island of the same name, in the Golfe de la Gonâve. Gonâve Island is moderately populated by rural villagers. Île à Vache (Cow Island), a lush island with many beautiful sights, is located off the tip of southwestern Haiti. Also part of Haiti are the Cayemites and Île d' Anacaona.

Environment

In 1925, Haiti was lush, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down an estimated 98% of its original forest cover for use as fuel for cookstoves, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils, contributing to desertification.

In addition to soil erosion, deforestation has caused periodic flooding, as seen on 17 September 2004. Earlier that year in May, floods had killed over 3,000 people on Haiti's southern border with the Dominican Republic.

Natural disasters

Hurricanes and tropical storms

In 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne skimmed the north coast of Haiti, leaving 3,006 people dead in flooding and mudslides, mostly in the city of Gonaïves.

Haiti was again pummeled by tropical storms in late August and early September 2008. The storms – Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Hanna and Hurricane Ike – all produced heavy winds and rain in Haiti. Due to weak soil conditions throughout Haiti, the country's mountainous terrain, and the devastating coincidence of four storms within less than four weeks, valley and lowland areas throughout the country experienced massive flooding. Casualties proved difficult to count because the storm diminished human capacity and physical resources for such record keeping. Bodies continued to surface as the flood waters receded. A 10 September 2008 source listed 331 dead and 800,000 in need of humanitarian aid. The grim state of affairs produced by these storms was all the more life threatening due to already high food and fuel prices that had caused a food crisis and political unrest in April 2008.

2010 earthquake

On January 12, 2010, at 21:53 UTC, (4:53 pm local time) Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake, the country's most severe earthquake in over 200 years. The epicenter of the quake was just outside the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. On 10 February the Haitian government gave a death toll of 230,000. Widespread damage resulted from the quake, and the capital city was devastated.

The Presidential Palace was badly damaged, the second floor collapsing onto the first floor; the Haitian Parliament building, UN mission headquarters and the National Cathedral were also destroyed. International aid flowed in but was hampered by damaged infrastructure: the main port was damaged beyond immediate use, the one local airport was of limited capacity, and border crossings with the Dominican Republic were distant and crowded. As many as one million Haitians were left homeless.

Haiti will need to be completely rebuilt from the ground up, according to a journalist, as "[e]ven in good times, Haiti is an economic wreck, balancing precariously on the razor's edge of calamity." Several international appeals were launched within days of the earthquake, including the Disasters Emergency Committee in the United Kingdom, Young Artists for Haiti (Canada) and Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief based in the USA, which was a global effort to raise relief funds by way of a charity telethon held on January 22, 2010. International officials are looking at the short and long term priorities while continuing the daily task of managing the emergency situation. As of September 2010, there were over one million refugees living in tents and the humanitarian situation was characterized as still being in the emergency phase.

On May 31, 2011, BBC News reported that a new report challenges Haiti's official earthquake death toll. "Significantly fewer people died or were left homeless by last year's earthquake in Haiti than claimed by the country's leaders, a draft report commissioned by the US government has said. The unpublished report puts the death toll between 46,000 and 85,000. (Haiti's government says about 316,000 died.) It also suggests many of those still living in tent cities did not lose their homes in the disaster. The draft report, which has yet to be released publicly, is based on a survey commissioned by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and draws its numbers from door-to-door surveys carried out over 29 days in January 2011."

Demographics

Although Haiti averages approximately 250 people per square kilometer (650 per sq mi.), its population is concentrated most heavily in urban areas, coastal plains, and valleys. Haiti's population was about 9.8 million according to UN 2008 estimates, with half of the population being under 20 years. The first formal census, taken in 1950, showed that the population was 3.1 million.

Eighty-five percent of Haitians (depending on the source because the Haitian government does not conduct a census) are of African and indigenous Taíno descent; the remaining 20–15% of the population are mostly of mixed-race background. A small percentage of the non-black population consists primarily of White Haitians; mostly of Western European (French, German, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish), and Arab, Armenian,or Jewish origin. Haitians of east Asian descent or East Indian origin number approximately 400.

Haitian diaspora

Millions of Haitians live abroad, chiefly in North America: the Dominican Republic, United States, Cuba, Canada (primarily Montreal), Bahamas, France, French Antilles, the Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and French Guiana. There are an estimated 800,000 in the Dominican Republic, 600,000 Haitians in the United States, 100,000 in Canada, 80,000 in France, and up to 80,000 in the Bahamas.

Languages

One of Haiti's two official languages is French, which is the principal written and administratively authorized language. It is spoken by all educated Haitians, is spoken in schools, and is used in the business sector. It is also used in ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations and church masses. The second is the recently standardized Haitian Creole, which is spoken by virtually the entire population of Haiti. Haitian Creole is one of the French-based creole languages. It is strongly related to French and Spanish, Taíno and many other European languages. Haitian Creole is related to the other French creoles, but most closely to Louisiana Creole.

Religion

Haiti is a majority Christian country, with strong roots in Roman Catholicism. Around 80% of Haitians profess to be Catholics. Protestants make up about 16% of the population.

Government

The government of Haiti is a semi-presidential republic, a multiparty system wherein the President of Haiti is head of state elected directly by popular elections. The Prime Minister acts as head of government and is appointed by the President, chosen from the majority party in the National Assembly. Executive power is exercised by the President and Prime Minister who together constitute the government.

Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the National Assembly of Haiti. The government is organized unitarily, thus the central government ''delegates'' powers to the departments without a constitutional need for consent. The current structure of Haiti's political system was set forth in the Constitution of Haiti on 29 March 1987. The current president is Michel Martelly.

In 2010, there were 7,000 people in the Haitian National Police.

The Institute for the Protection of National Heritage has preserved 33 historical monuments and the historic center of Cap-Haïtien.

Departments, arrondissements, and communes

For reasons of administration, Haiti has been divided into ten departments. The departments are listed below, with the departmental capital cities in parentheses.

# Artibonite (Gonaïves) # Centre (Hinche) # Grand'Anse (Jérémie) # Nippes (Miragoâne) # Nord (Cap-Haïtien) # Nord-Est (Fort-Liberté) # Nord-Ouest (Port-de-Paix) # Ouest (Port-au-Prince) # Sud-Est (Jacmel) # Sud (Les Cayes) The departments are further divided into 41 arrondissements, and 133 communes, which serve as second- and third-level administrative divisions.

Politics

Haitian politics have been contentious: in its 200-year history, Haiti has suffered 32 coups. Haiti's is the only country in the Western Hemisphere to undergo a successful slave revolution, but a long history of oppression by dictators – including François Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude Duvalier – has markedly affected the nation. France and the United States have repeatedly intervened in Haitian politics since the country's founding, sometimes at the request of one party or another.

According to a Corruption Perceptions Index report in 2006, there is a strong correlation between corruption and poverty and Haiti ranked first of all countries surveyed for of levels of perceived domestic corruption. The International Red Cross reports that seven out of ten Haitians live on less than US$2 a day.

Cité Soleil, Haiti's largest slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, has been called "the most dangerous place on Earth" by the United Nations. The slum is a stronghold of supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who, according to the BBC, "accused the US of forcing him out – an accusation the US rejected as 'absurd'".

Jean-Claude Duvalier suddenly returned to Haiti in late January 2011, claiming his doing so was out of concern for the present situation in Haiti. On the other hand, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was initially denied access to Haiti by Haitian immigration authorities, despite issuing appeals to his supporters, and to international observers, to be able to do so. The world's most prominent governments did not overtly oppose such appeals, nor did they support them; an unnamed analyst 'close to the Haitian government' who was repeatedly quoted in several media sources including the ''New York Times'', is reported to have commented, "Aristide could have 15 passports and he's still not going to come back to Haiti. ...France and the United States are standing in the way." However, Aristide finally returned to Haiti just days before the 2011 Presidential election, on March 18, 2011.

Elections

The first round of the 2010 Haiti Elections, was held in December and qualified Mirlande Manigat and Jude Celestin for the second round, but the results of the election were contested. Some people said that the first round was a fraud, and that Michel Martelly should be in the place of Jude Celestin, René Préval's chosen successor. There was some violence between the contending parties.

On April 4, 2011 the Provisional Electoral Council announced preliminary results that Martelly had won the presidential election.

Economy

Haiti's economy is still recovering from the massive earthquake in January 2010. Its purchasing power parity GDP fell 8% in 2010 (from $12.15 billion to $11.18 billion) and the GDP per capita remained unchanged at (PPP US$) 1,200. Comparative social and economic indicators show Haiti falling behind other low-income developing countries (particularly in the hemisphere) since the 1980s. Haiti ranked 145 of 182 countries in the 2010 United Nations Human Development Index, with 57.3% of the population being deprived in at least three of the HDI's poverty measures.

''The World Factbook'' reports a shortage of skilled labor, widespread unemployment and underemployment, saying "more than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs", and describes pre-earthquake Haiti as "already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty." Most Haitians live on $2 or less per day.

Adult literacy is variously reported as 52.9% [World Factbook] and 65.3% [United Nations], and the World Bank estimates that in 2004 over 80% of college graduates from Haiti were living abroad, with their remittances home representing 52.7% of Haiti's GDP. Cité Soleil is considered one of the worst slums in the Americas, most of its 500,000 residents live in extreme poverty. Poverty has forced at least 225,000 Haitian children to work as restavecs (unpaid household servants); the United Nations considers this to be a modern-day form of slavery.

About 66% of all Haitians work in the agricultural sector, which consists mainly of small-scale subsistence farming, but this activity makes up only 30% of the GDP. The country has experienced little formal job-creation over the past decade, although the informal economy is growing. Mangoes and coffee are two of Haiti's most important exports.

Natural resources of Haiti include bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble and hydropower. Haiti contains relatively small amounts of gold, silver, antimony, tin, lignite, sulphur, coal, nickel, gypsum, limestone, manganese, marble, iron, tungsten, salt, clay, and various building stones. Gold and copper are found in small quantities in the north of the country. The government announced the discovery of new gold deposits in the northern peninsula in 1985, but long-standing plans for gold production proceeded slowly. Copper also was mined, beginning in the 1960s, but production of the ore was sporadic. There are bauxite (aluminum ore) deposits on the southern peninsula, but large scale mining there was discontinued in 1983. The country's only bauxite mine, the Miragoâne mine in the southern peninsula, produced an average of 500,000 tons of bauxite a year in the early 1980s; however, in 1982 the declining metal content of the ore, high production costs, and the oversupplied international bauxite market forced the mine to close. Bauxite had at one time been the country's second leading export. Haiti apparently has no hydrocarbon resources on land or in the Gulf of Gonâve and is therefore heavily dependent on energy imports (petroleum and petroleum products).

Haiti's richest 1% own nearly half the country's wealth. Haiti has consistently ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world on the Corruption Perceptions Index. Since the day of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, Haiti's government has been notorious for its corruption. It is estimated that President "Baby Doc" Duvalier, his wife Michelle, and three other people took $504 million from the Haitian public treasury between 1971 and 1986.

Similarly, some media outlets alleged that millions were stolen by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. However the accuracy of the information is questionable and may have been concocted to discredit Aristide. In March 2004, at the time of Aristide's being kidnapped, a BBC article wrote that the Bush administration State department claimed that Aristide had been involved in drug trafficking. The BBC also described pyramid schemes, in which Haitians lost hundreds of millions in 2002, as the "only real economic initiative" of the Aristide years. However this cannot necessarily be entirely blamed on Aristide since one of his conditions upon being returned to Haiti by the Clinton administration during the 90s was that he not stir the pot away from US Free Market Trade Policies. Clinton recently expressed regret and apologized for the US's trade policies with Haiti Aristide however decided against being further tied to the free market policies that he was restricted to, and he attempted to raise the country's minimum wage.

Foreign aid makes up approximately 30–40% of the national government's budget. The largest donor is the US, followed by Canada and the European Union. From 1990 to 2003, Haiti received more than $4 billion in aid. The United States alone had provided Haiti with 1.5 billion in aid. Venezuela and Cuba also make various contributions to Haiti's economy, especially after alliances were renewed in 2006 and 2007. In January 2010, China promised $4.2 million for the quake-hit island. US President Barack Obama pledged $1.15 billion in assistance. European Union nations promised more than 400 million euros ($616 million) in emergency aid and reconstruction funds.

US aid to the Haitian government was completely cut off from 2001 to 2004, after the 2000 election was disputed and President Aristide was accused of various misdeeds. After Aristide's departure in 2004, aid was restored, and the Brazilian army led the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti peacekeeping operation. Following almost 4 years of recession ending in 2004, the economy grew by 1.5% in 2005.

In 2005 Haiti's total external debt reached an estimated US$1.3 billion, which corresponds to a debt per capita of US$169. In September 2009, Haiti met the conditions set out by the IMF and World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program to qualify for cancellation of its external debt.

Transport

Roadways

Haiti has two main highways that run from one end of the country to the other. The northern highway, Route Nationale #1 (National Highway One), originates in Port-au-Prince, winding through the coastal towns of Montrouis and Gonaïves, before reaching its terminus at the northern port Cap-Haïtien. The southern highway, Route Nationale #2, links Port-au-Prince with Les Cayes via Léogâne and Petit Goâve.

According to the Washington Post, "Officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Saturday [January 23, 2010] that they assessed the damage from the Jan. 12 quake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and found that many of the roads aren’t any worse than they were before because they’ve always been in poor condition."

Water

The port at Port-au-Prince, Port international de Port-au-Prince, has more registered shipping than any of the other dozen ports in the country. The port's facilities include cranes, large berths, and warehouses, but these facilities are not in good condition. The port is underused, possibly due to the substantially high port fees, compared to ports in the Dominican Republic. The port of Saint-Marc is currently the preferred port of entry for consumer goods coming into Haiti. Reasons for this may include its location away from volatile and congested Port-au-Prince, as well as its central location relative to numerous Haitian cities.

During the 2010 Earthquake, the Port-au-Prince port suffered widespread damage, impeding aid to the victims. The main pier caved in and fell into the water. One of the main cranes also collapsed in the water. Port access roads were severely damaged as well.

Air

Toussaint Louverture International Airport is located North/North East of Port-au-Prince. It has Haiti's main jetway, and as such, handles the vast majority of the country's international flights. To travel on from the international airport at Port-au-Prince to other Haitian cities requires boarding a smaller plane. Cities such as Jacmel, Jeremie, Les Cayes, Cap Haitien, and Port de Paix have airports that are accessible only by smaller aircraft. Companies that fly to these airports include: Caribintair, Sunrise Airways and Tortug' Air.

Rail

In the past, Haiti used rail transport, but, today, railroads are no longer in use, due to their replacement by other forms of transportation.

Health

Half of the children in Haiti are unvaccinated; only 40% of the population has access to basic health care. Prior to the 2010 earthquake, nearly half of all Haitian deaths were attributed to HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, meningitis and diarrheal diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Ninety percent of Haiti's children suffer from waterborne diseases and intestinal parasites. HIV infection is found in 2.2% of Haiti's adult population. The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Haiti is more than ten times as high as in the rest of Latin America. Approximately 30,000 people in Haiti suffer each year from malaria.

Most people living in Haiti are at high risk for major infectious diseases. Food or waterborne diseases include bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever; common vectorborne diseases are dengue fever and malaria; water contact diseases include leptospirosis. Roughly 75% of Haitian households lack running water. Unsafe water, along with inadequate housing and unsanitary living conditions, contributes to the high incidence of infectious diseases. There is a chronic shortage of health care personnel, and hospitals lack resources, a situation that became readily apparent after the January 2010 earthquake.

Education

The educational system of Haiti is based on the French system. Higher education, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, is provided by universities and other public and private institutions. Haiti counts 15,200 primary schools, of which 90% are non-public and managed by communities, religious organizations or NGOs. The enrollment rate for primary school is 67%, and fewer than 30% reach 6th grade. Secondary schools enroll 20% of eligible-age children. Charity organizations, including Food for the Poor and Haitian Health Foundation, are building schools for children and providing necessary school supplies. Haiti's literacy rate is 52.9%.

The January, 2010 earthquake was a major setback for education reform in Haiti. Literacy levels remain near 50 percent. Haiti is one of the lowest-ranked countries in the world, 177th out of 186, for national spending on education.

Many reformers have advocated the creation of a free, public and universal education system for all primary school-age students in Haiti. The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the government will need at least $3 billion USD to create an adequately funded system.

Culture

Haiti has a long and storied history and therefore retains a rich culture. Haitian culture is a mixture of primarily French, African elements, and native Taíno, with influence from the colonial Spanish. The country's customs essentially are a blend of cultural beliefs that derived from the various ethnic groups that inhabited the island of Hispaniola. In nearly all aspects of modern Haitian society however, the European and African elements dominate. Haiti is world famous for its distinctive art, notably painting and sculpture.

The music of Haiti is influenced mostly by European colonial ties and African migration (through slavery). In the case of European colonization, musical influence has derived primarily from the French, however Haitian music has been influenced to a significant extent by its Spanish-speaking neighbors, the Dominican Republic and Cuba, whose Spanish-infused music has contributed much to the country's musical genres as well. Styles of music unique to the nation of Haiti include music derived from Voodoo ceremonial traditions, Rara parading music, troubadour ballads, and the wildly popular Compas.

Compas (in French) or Kompa (in Creole) is a complex, ever-changing music that arose from African rhythms and European ballroom dancing, mixed with Haiti's bourgeois culture. It is a refined music, played with an underpinning of tipico, and méringue (related to Dominican merengue) as a basic rhythm. Haiti had no recorded music until 1937 when Jazz Guignard was recorded non-commercially. One of the most popular Haitian artists is Wyclef Jean. Wyclef Jean, however, left the country before his teenage years. His music is somewhat hip-hop mixed with world music.

Brilliant colors, naive perspective and sly humor characterize Haitian art. Frequent subjects in Haitian art include big, delectable foods, lush landscapes, market activities, jungle animals, rituals, dances, and gods. Artists frequently paint in fables. People are disguised as animals and animals are transformed into people. In a mostly illiterate land, symbols take on great meaning. For example, a rooster often represents Aristide and the red and blue colors of the Haitian flag often represent his Lavalas party. Many artists cluster in ‘schools’ of painting, such as the Cap Haitien school, which features depictions of daily life in the city, the Jacmel School, which reflects the steep mountains and bays of that coastal town, or the Saint-Soleil School, which is characterized by abstracted human forms and is heavily influenced by Voodoo symbolism.

Cuisine

The cuisine of Haiti originates from several culinary styles from the various historical ethnic groups that populated the western portion of the island of Hispaniola, namely the French, African, and the Taíno. Haitian cuisine is similar to the rest of the Latin-Caribbean (the French and the Spanish-speaking countries of the Antilles) however it differs in several ways from its regional counterparts. Its primary influence derive from French cuisine, and African cuisine, with notable derivatives from native Taíno and Spanish culinary technique. Though similar to other cooking styles in the region, it carries a uniqueness native only to the country and an appeal to many visitors to the island. Haitians often use peppers and other strong flavorings.

Dishes tend to be seasoned liberally and consequently Haitian cuisine tends to be moderately spicy, not mild and not too hot. In the country, however, many businesses of foreign origin have been established introducing several foreign cuisines into the mainstream culture. Years of adaptation have led to these cuisines (ie: Levantine from Arab migration to Haiti) to merge into Haitian cuisine. Rice and beans in several differing ways are eaten throughout the country regardless of location, becoming a sort of national dish. They form the staple diet, which consists of a lot of starch and is high in carbohydrates. Rural areas, with better access to agricultural products have a larger variety of choices.

One such dish is mais moulu (''mayi moulin''), which is comparable to cornmeal that can be eaten with sauce aux pois (''sòs pwa''), a bean sauce made from one of many types of beans such as kidney, pinto, or garbanzo beans, or pigeon peas (known in some countries as gandules). Mais moulin can be eaten with fish (often red snapper), or alone depending on personal preference. Some of the many plants used in Haitian dishes include tomato, oregano, cabbage, avocado, bell peppers. A popular food is banane pesée (''ban-nan'n peze''), flattened plantain slices fried in soybean oil (known as tostones in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico). It is eaten both as a snack and as part of a meal is, often eaten with tassot or griot, which are deep-fried goat and pork respectively.

Sports

Soccer is the most popular sport in Haiti. Basketball is growing in popularity. Hundreds of small football clubs compete at the local level.

See also

Caribbean Sea

External debt of Haiti

Greater Antilles

Hispaniola

Le Nouvelliste (Haiti)

List of Haitians

National Museum of Haiti

Wikipedia in Haitian Kreyol

Notes

External material

References

Cassá, Roberto. 1995. ''Los indios de las Antillas''. Madrid: MAPFRE. Series: Pueblos y lenguas indígenas, 10.

Wilson, Samuel M. 1990. ''Hispaniola: Caribbean chiefdoms in the age of Columbus''. Univ. of Alabama Press.

Further reading

Arthur, Charles. ''Haiti in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture''. Interlink Publishing Group (2002). ISBN 1-56656-359-3.

Dayan, Colin. ''Haiti, History, and the Gods''. University of California Press (1998). ISBN 0-520-21368-8.

Hadden, Robert Lee and Steven G. Minson. 2010. The Geology of Haiti: An Annotated Bibliography of Haiti's Geology, Geography and Earth Science. US Army Corps of Engineers, Army Geospatial Center. July 2010.

Heinl, Robert Debs & Nancy Gordon Heinl. ''Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People 1492–1995''. University Press of America (2005). ISBN 0-7618-3177-0.

Robinson, Randall. ''An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President''. Basic Civitas (2007). ISBN 0-465-07050-7.

Wilentz, Amy. ''The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier''. Simon & Schuster (1990). ISBN 0-671-70628-4.

External links

; Government

Republic of Haiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs official website

; General information

Haiti at Encyclopædia Britannica

Haiti at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

A Country Study: Haiti from the U.S. Library of Congress (December 1989)

; Maps

Map of Haiti from ''Elahmad.com''

Collection of maps from the Perry-Castañeda Library at the University of Texas

Map of Haiti from the United Nations

Maps of Haiti from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Army Geospatial Center, including geology, hydrology, geography and trafficability

; Media

Collection of Haitian Media World Wide from ''haitianmedialist.com''

; Travel

; Relief Organizations

The ICRC in Haiti International Committee of the Red Cross

Hope for Haiti Education and grassroots development in rural Haiti.

Haiti volunteer youth corps Training leaders in trauma relief, community empowerment, and sustainable agriculture

Instituto Dominicano Desarrollo Integral Main Branch of the Haitian Institute fron Integral Development.

The Haitian Institute for Integral Development The Haitian Institute for Integral Development

Category:Caribbean countries Category:Member states of the Caribbean Community Category:French-speaking countries Category:Island countries Category:Latin America Category:Least developed countries Category:Member states of La Francophonie Category:Republics Category:States and territories established in 1804 Category:History of Haiti Category:Member states of the United Nations

af:Haïti als:Haiti ar:هايتي an:Haití roa-rup:Haiti frp:Hayiti ast:Haití az:Haiti bm:Ayiti bn:হাইতি bjn:Haiti zh-min-nan:Haiti be:Гаіці be-x-old:Гаіці bcl:Haiti bo:ཧའི་ཏི། bs:Haiti br:Republik Haiti bg:Хаити ca:Haití cv:Гаити ceb:Haiti cs:Haiti co:Haiti cy:Haiti da:Haiti de:Haiti dv:ހެއިޓީ nv:Héítii dsb:Haiti et:Haiti el:Αϊτή es:Haití eo:Haitio ext:Aití eu:Haiti ee:Haiti fa:هائیتی hif:Haiti fo:Haiti fr:Haïti fy:Haïty ga:Háítí gv:Haiti gag:Haiti gd:Haiti gl:Haití - Haïti gu:હૈતી hak:Hói-thi ko:아이티 haw:Heiti hy:Հաիթի hi:हैती hsb:Haiti hr:Haiti io:Haiti ilo:Haiti bpy:হাইতি id:Haiti ia:Haiti os:Гаити is:Haítí it:Haiti he:האיטי jv:Haiti pam:Haiti ka:ჰაიტი kk:Гаити kw:Hayti rw:Hayiti sw:Haiti kg:Ayiti ht:Ayiti ku:Haîtî mrj:Гаити la:Haitia lv:Haiti lb:Haiti lt:Haitis lij:Haiti li:Haïti ln:Ayiti lmo:Haiti hu:Haiti mk:Хаити mg:Haiti ml:ഹെയ്റ്റി mr:हैती arz:هاييتى ms:Haiti mn:Гайти my:ဟေတီနိုင်ငံ nah:Haiti na:Aiti nl:Haïti nds-nl:Haïti ne:हाइटी new:हेइटी ja:ハイチ pih:Haiti no:Haiti nn:Haiti nov:Haiti oc:Haití (estat) mhr:Гаити uz:Gaiti pnb:ہیٹی pap:Haiti ps:هېياتي pms:Haiti nds:Haiti pl:Haiti pt:Haiti crh:Haiti ro:Haiti qu:Ayti (mama llaqta) ru:Республика Гаити sah:Хаити se:Haiti sco:Haiti sq:Haiti scn:Aiti si:හෙයිටි simple:Haiti ss:IHayithi sk:Haiti (štát) sl:Haiti szl:Hajiti so:Haiti ckb:ھایتی sr:Хаити sh:Haiti fi:Haiti sv:Haiti tl:Hayti ta:எயிட்டி tt:Haiti th:ประเทศเฮติ tr:Haiti uk:Гаїті ur:ہیٹی ug:ھايتى vec:Haiti vi:Haiti vo:Haitiyän fiu-vro:Haiti wa:Ayiti zh-classical:海地 war:Haiti wo:Ayiti yi:האיטי yo:Hàítì zh-yue:海地 diq:Haiti bat-smg:Haitės zh:海地

As of 2010, five major earthquakes have been recorded in Haiti.

1751 Port-au-Prince earthquake (18 October): According to French historian Moreau de Saint-Méry, "only one masonry building had not collapsed" in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city.

1770 Port-au-Prince earthquake (3 June): The city was leveled in this magnitude 7.5 quake, which killed over 200 people.

7 May 1842: An earthquake destroyed the city of Cap-Haïtien and other towns in the north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic; this earthquake also destroyed the Sans-Souci Palace. 10,000 people were killed. 1946 Dominican Republic earthquake (4 August): This 8.0-magnitude quake in Samaná also shook Haiti, producing a tsunami that killed 1,600 people. 2010 Haiti earthquake (12 January):. The epicentre of this magnitude 7.0 M_w earthquake was near Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince. at a depth of . The United States Geological Survey recorded a series of at least 33 aftershocks, 14 of which were between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.9. The International Red Cross estimated that about three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reports that over 316,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise.

Earthquakes

12 January 2010 Earthquake

Eric Calais, a geophysicist at Purdue University who has researched in the area for years, and Ross Stein of the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, and colleagues have independently calculated that the earthquake has increased the risk on other segments of the Enriquillo fault and perhaps on other faults, although the quake probably did not increase the risk (which is already known to be high) of a major tremor on the Septentrional fault. Stein suggests that if the calculations are right—noting that they may well not be—something may be "fundamentally locked in some fashion, on pretty much all scales, and might be capable of popping off something large". Historical accounts, although not precise, suggest that there has been a sequence of quakes progressing westwards along the fault, starting with an earthquake in the Dominican Republic in 2010. There are concerns that the 12 January earthquake could be the beginning of a new long-term sequence: "the whole region is fearful".

See also

Enriquillo – Plantain Garden fault zone

List of earthquakes

References

Haiti Earthquakes

de:Liste schwerer Erdbeben in Haiti pt:Anexo:Lista de terramotos no Haiti

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Name	Jeffrey Johnson
Birthname	Jeffrey S.S. Johnson
Birth date	January 28, 1970
Birth place	Southborough, Massachusetts
Occupation	Actor, Musician, Minister
Yearsactive	1999–present }}

Jeffrey S. S. Johnson (born January 28, 1970) is an American actor, musician and ordained [minister]. He is perhaps best known for his role as Brady McDaniels in ''Letters to God''.

Life

Johnson was born in Southborough, Massachusetts, on January 28, 1970. He is a 1988 graduate of Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough, Massachusetts.

Career

Johnson has appeared in several television series, including ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', ''Bones'', ''Boomtown'' and ''Burn Notice''. He has also been seen in films such as ''Helter Skelter'', ''Scorcher'' and ''Letters to God''.

Musical career

His single, "Nothin' Will Just Have to Do" was featured in an episode of ''Bionic Woman''.

Personal Life

He is a minister at The Universal Life Church, where he has married ten couples, including his sister and her husband in the summer of 2005, and his cousin, a decorated war veteran and his wife in 2009.

Filmography

{| class=wikitable |- ! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes |- | 1999 || ''Resculpting Venus'' || Jerry || Film debut |- | rowspan=2 | 2001 || ''So Little Time'' || Kyle || Television series (Episode "The New Guy") |- | ''Three Sisters'' || Cute Guy || Television series (Episode "The Dry Spell") |- | rowspan=2 | 2002 || ''Scorcher'' || Styles || |- | ''Boomtown'' || Victor Alfandre || Television series (Episode "Reelin' in the Years") |- | 2003 || ''Tremors'' || Chad Ranston || Television series (Episode "Graboid Rights") |- | rowspan=4 | 2004 || ''The District'' || Ken || Television series (Episode "Breath of Life") |- | ''Target'' || Curtis || |- | ''Helter Skelter'' || Terry Melcher || Television movie |- | ''Without a Trace'' || Ethan || Television series (Episode "American Goddess") |- | rowspan=6 | 2005 || ''Down Dog'' || Guru Dave || Short film |- | ''House of Grimm'' || Wraith || |- | ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' || Morgan Stewart || Television series (Episode "Spark of Life") |- | ''Over the Shoulder'' || Ralph || Short film |- | ''Barbershop'' || Carl || Television series (Episode "Get Your Hand Out of My Womb") |- | ''A Coat of Snow'' || Mark || |- | rowspan=2| 2007 || ''Day Break'' || Driver || Television series (Episode "What If He's Not Alone?" |- | ''Burn Notice'' || Kent Fontenau || Television series (Episode "Loose Ends, Part 1") |- | 2008 || ''Unhitched'' || Rick || Television series (Episode "Pole-Dancing Toddler") |- | 2009 || ''Stellina Blue'' || Mark || |- | rowspan=4| 2010 ||''Criminal Minds'' || Detective Marty Cotrone || Television series (Episode "The Uncanny Valley") |- | ''Letters to God'' || Brady McDaniels || Lead Role |- | ''The Secret Life of the American Teenager'' || || Television series (Episode "Chicken Little") |- | ''Bones'' || Mike Casper || Television series (Episode "The Shallow in the Deep") |- | 2011 || ''Lie to Me'' || Ben Aston || Television series (Episode "Gone") |- | 2011 || "NCIS" || Commander Nelson Tunney || Television series (Episode "Dead Reflection") |- | 2011 || "Shadow Of A Memory" || Jack Hodel ||

External links

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:American television actors Category:American film actors

John Crowley (born December 1, 1942) is an American author of fantasy, science fiction and mainstream fiction. He studied at Indiana University and has a second career as a documentary film writer. He is best known as the author of ''Little, Big'' (1981), which received the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and has been called "a neglected masterpiece" by Harold Bloom.

Biography

John Crowley was born in Presque Isle, Maine, in 1942; his father was then an officer in the US Army Air Corps. He grew up in Vermont, northeastern Kentucky and (for the longest stretch) Indiana, where he went to high school and college. He moved to New York City after college to make movies, and did find work in documentary films, an occupation he still pursues. He published his first novel (''The Deep'') in 1975, and his 17th volume of fiction (''Four Freedoms'') in 2009. Since 1993 he has taught creative writing at Yale University. In 1992 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

His first published novels were science fiction: ''The Deep'' (1975) and ''Beasts'' (1976). ''Engine Summer'' (1979) was nominated for the 1980 American Book Award; it appears in David Pringle’s ''Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels''. In 1981 came ''Little, Big''.

In 1987 Crowley embarked on an ambitious four-volume novel, ''Ægypt'', comprising ''The Solitudes'' (originally published as ''Ægypt''), ''Love & Sleep'', ''Dæmonomania,'' and ''Endless Things'', published in May 2007. This series and ''Little, Big'' were cited when Crowley received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.

He is also the recipient of an Ingram Merrill Foundation grant. His recent novels are ''The Translator'', recipient of the Premio Flaiano (Italy); ''Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land'', which contains an entire imaginary novel by the poet; and the aforementioned ''Four Freedoms'', about workers at an Oklahoma defense plant during World War II. A novella, ''The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines'', appeared in 2002. A museum-quality 25th anniversary edition of ''Little, Big'', featuring the art of Peter Milton and a critical introduction by Harold Bloom, is in preparation for August 2011.

Crowley’s short fiction is collected in three volumes: ''Novelty'' (containing the World Fantasy Award-winning novella ''Great Work of Time''), ''Antiquities'', and ''Novelties & Souvenirs'', an omnibus volume containing all his short fiction through its publication in 2004. A collection of essays and reviews entitled ''In Other Words'' was published in early 2007.

In 1989 Crowley and his wife Laurie Block founded Straight Ahead Pictures to produce media (film, video, radio and internet) on American history and culture. Crowley writes scripts for short films and documentaries, many historical documentaries for public television; his work has received numerous awards and has been shown at the New York Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, and many others. His scripts include ''The World of Tomorrow'' (on the 1939 World's Fair), ''No Place to Hide'' (on the bomb shelter obsession), ''The Hindenburg'', and ''FIT: Episodes in the History of the Body'' (American fitness practices and beliefs over the decades; with Laurie Block).

Crowley's correspondence with literary critic Harold Bloom, and their mutual appreciation, led in 1993 to Crowley taking up a post at Yale University, where he teaches courses in Utopian fiction, fiction writing, and screenplay writing. Bloom claimed on Contentville.com that ''Little, Big'' ranks among the five best novels by a living writer, and included ''Little, Big'', ''Ægypt'' (''The Solitudes''), and ''Love & Sleep'' in his canon of literature (in the appendix to ''The Western Canon'', 1994). In his Preface to ''Snake's-Hands'', Bloom identifies Crowley as his "favorite contemporary writer", and the Ægypt series as his "favorite romance...after ''Little, Big''".

Crowley has also taught at the Clarion West Writers' Workshop held annually in Seattle, Washington.

Awards

1982: ''Little, Big'' received the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.

1990: ''Great Work of Time'' received the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella.

1992: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.

1997: ''Gone'' received the Locus Award for Best Short Story.

2003: ''The Translator'' received the Italian ''Premio Flaiano''.

2006: World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.

Bibliography

Novels

''The Deep'', Doubleday (1975)

''Beasts'', Doubleday (1976)

''Engine Summer'', Doubleday (1979) -- BSFA and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards nominee, 1980 ''Little, Big'', Bantam (1981) -- Nebula nominee, 1981; WFA winner, 1982; BSFA, Hugo, and Locus Awards nominee, 1982 ''Ægypt'' (first novel in the Ægypt tetralogy), Bantam (1987); revised and republished 2007 under intended original title, ''The Solitudes'' -- WFA and Clarke Awards nominee, 1988 ''Love & Sleep'' (second novel in the ''Ægypt'' tetralogy), Bantam (1994) -- WFA nominee, 1995

''Dæmonomania'' (third novel in the ''Ægypt'' tetralogy), Bantam (2000)

''The Translator'', William Morrow (2002)

''Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land'', William Morrow (2005)

''Endless Things'' (fourth and final novel in the ''Ægypt'' tetralogy), Small Beer Press (2007) -- Locus Award nominee, 2008

''Four Freedoms'', William Morrow (2009)

Short fiction

"Antiquities" (1977)

"Where Spirits Gat Them Home" (1978, later revised as "Her Bounty to the Dead")

"The Single Excursion of Caspar Last" (1979, later incorporated into "Great Work of Time")

"The Reason for the Visit" (1980)

"The Green Child" (1981)

"Novelty" (1983)

"Snow" (1985)

"The Nightingale Sings at Night" (1989)

"Great Work of Time" (novella, originally published in ''Novelty'', 1989), Bantam (1991)

"In Blue" (1989)

"Missolonghi 1824" (1990)

"Exogamy" (1993)

"Gone" (1996)

"Lost and Abandoned" (1997)

"An Earthly Mother Sits and Sings" (2000, published as an original chapbook by DreamHaven, illustrated by Charles Vess)

"The War Between the Objects and the Subjects" (2002)

"The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines" (novella, 2002, in ''Conjunctions: 39, The New Wave Fabulists'', edited by Peter Straub)

"Little Yeses, Little Nos" (2005)

"Conversation Hearts" (2008; published as a chapbook by Subterranean Press)

Collections

''Novelty'' Bantam (1989); collects "The Nightingale Sings At Night", "Great Work of Time", "In Blue" and the previously published "Novelty".

''Antiquities: Seven Stories'', Incunabula (1993); includes all of his stories to that point which were not included in ''Novelty''

''Novelties and Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction'', Perennial (2004); collects all of his short fiction up to that point, including "Great Work of Time", except "The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines".

Omnibuses

''Beasts/Engine Summer/Little Big'', QPBC (1991)

''Three Novels'' (1994; later published as ''Otherwise: Three Novels by John Crowley''. It includes ''The Deep'', ''Beasts'', ''Engine Summer'').

Screenplays

''The World of Tomorrow'' (1984)

''Fit: Episodes in the History of the Body'' (1990, with Laurie Block)

Nonfiction

''In Other Words'', Subterranean Press (2007)

Audio books

''Ægypt'', Blackstone Audiobooks (2007; unabridged reading of ''The Solitudes'' by the author.)

Critical work concerning

''Snake's-Hands: The Fiction of John Crowley'', edited by Alice K. Turner and Michael Andre-Driussi, Cosmos (Canton, OH), 2003.

External links

Crowley's blog

john crowley: a pictorial bibliography

The 25th Anniversary Edition of ''Little, Big''

Straight Ahead Pictures, Inc

John Crowley Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin

References

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:American fantasy writers Category:American novelists Category:Clarion Writers' Workshop Category:Indiana University alumni Category:People from Presque Isle, Maine Category:World Fantasy Award winning authors Category:Writers from Maine Category:Postmodern writers

de:John Crowley fr:John Crowley it:John Crowley ja:ジョン・クロウリー pl:John Crowley tr:John Crowley