A few seconds were enough to reduce a half island to rubble. The afternoon of Tuesday, January 12, 2010 a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake of magnitude on the Richter scale shook Haiti, leaving in that country catastrophic figures of deaths, injuries and destroyed structures.
In the earthquake, considered the most devastating in the history of the neighboring nation, More than 300,000 people lost their lives. a similar number were seriously injured and 1.5 million left homeless.
The epicenter was recorded 16 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, a fairly populated area, and 27 kilometers. from Petionville (southeast), at a depth of 10 kilometers.
It was followed by three 5 degree aftershocks that destroyed houses, buildings and hundreds of architectural structures, including the seat of government, Located in the Haitian capital.
It would be impossible to minimize what the catastrophe meant for that territory. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the number of deaths was ten times higher than the sum of the victims caused by all the disasters that have occurred in Haiti since 1963.
In a few hours, the news of the tragedy was discussed in the world’s main media and most of the heads of nations expressed their solidarity with the poorest nation in America.
Damage
The devastating tremor greatly weakened the state and caused damage estimated at 120% of GDP in 2009, equivalent to 7.9 billion dollars.
The dramatic images of the tremor were true scenes of pain, helplessness and devastation. After the earthquake, the Dominican Republic and the international community mobilized large amounts of aid for Haiti.
Even dozens of Latino artists such as Shakira, Gloria Estefan, Luis Miguel, Juan Gabriel and Juan Luis Guerra joined their voices in “Somos el mundo”, the adaptation of the hit composed by Michael Jackson “We are the world”, to send a message of love and solidarity to the Haitian people.
Anger
The earthquake not only took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Haitians and left countless infrastructure damage, but also triggered a health crisis by starting a cholera outbreak that soon spread and attacked the population of that country.
Cholera caused the death of at least 7,000 people in this nation after the epidemic of the disease that began after the earthquake and whose origin was allegedly linked to a dumping of fecal waste into a river by blue helmets that were part of the UN peacekeeping mission that was deployed in the country.
Another earthquake in 2021
Eleven years after the deadliest earthquake in the history of the American continent, Haiti was struck by the force of nature once again on August 14, 2021 by a 7.2-magnitude tremor which caused the death of 2,248 people.
The earthquake left 12,500 injured and 800,000 homeless throughout the entire southern peninsula of Haiti, and was followed by a series of aftershocks that affected more than 800,000 people, including 340,000 minors.
the crisis persists
Although after the earthquake Haiti made efforts to get up, international aid did not give the expected results, the billions of dollars promised by international donors in the weeks after the catastrophe did not seem to have had a sufficient impact.
Haiti It remains the poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one of the poorest in the world, according to the World Bank.
In addition, the political instability in which it has orbited in the last decade has kept that nation in constant trouble and its citizens suffering great deficiencies.
Thirteen years after the devastating event, that country is not better prepared to face catastrophes of this type and it is immersed in one of its worst crises after the assassination of its president Jovenel Moise, the lack of institutions and fuel, the food crisis and the scourge of the armed gangs that control practically all of its territory.
