The Haiti earthquake

  

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M_w earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne (Ouest Department), approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.^[5][6]

By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded.^[7] An estimated three million people were affected by the quake.^[8] The highest reliable death count was estimated at 220,000.^[9] Haitian government estimates were higher.^[10]

The government of Haiti estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.^[11]

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,^[12] and opposition leader Micha Gaillard.^[13][14] 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.^[15][16]

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 overwhelmed with tens of thousands of bodies. These had to be buried in mass graves.^[17] 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.

Deaths

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.^[8] In mid February 2010, the Haitian government reported the death toll to have reached 230,000.^[10] However, an investigation by Radio Netherlands has questioned the official death toll, reporting an estimate of 92,000 deaths as being a more realistic figure.^[100] 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.^[101]

Several experts have questioned the validity of the death toll numbers; Anthony Penna, professor emeritus in environmental history at Northeastern University, warned that casualty estimates could only be a "guesstimate",^[102] and Belgian disaster response expert Claude de Ville de Goyet noted that "round numbers are a sure sign that nobody knows."^[103] 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",^[103] 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.^[103]

While the vast majority of casualties were Haitian civilians, the dead included aid workers, embassy staff, foreign tourists—and a number of public figures, including Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot,^[12] aid worker Zilda Arns and officials in the Haitian government, including opposition leader Michel "Micha" Gaillard.^[13] Also killed were a number of well-known Haitian musicians^[104] and sports figures, including thirty members of the Fédération Haïtienne de Football.^[105] At least 85 United Nations personnel working with MINUSTAH were killed,^[106] among them the Mission Chief, Hédi Annabi, his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa.,^[16] and police commissioner Douglas Coates. Around 200 guests were killed in the collapse of the Hôtel Montana in Port-au-Prince.^[107]

On 31 May 2011, an unreleased draft report based on a survey commissioned by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) challenged the Haiti earthquake death toll and several damage estimates. The unpublished report put the death toll between 46,000 and 85,000 and put the number of displaced persons at 895,000, of which only 375,000 remained in temporary shelters. The unreleased report, which compiled its figures from a door-to-door survey, was done by a Washington consulting firm, LTL Strategies. A US State Department spokesperson said the report had inconsistencies and would not be released until they were resolved.^[108] As of January 2012, USAID has not released the report and states at its website that 1.5 million people were displaced, of which 550,000 remain without permanent shelter.^[109]