The 2010 earthquake in Haiti caused major damage and lead to various amounts of migrations within the island. With majority of the population already in poverty, the earthquake caused the rate of poverty to increase even more. Shabby housing and the absence of social assistance makes diseases another causes of poverty in Haiti. This often forces families to sell their belongings to buy medical treatments. Since the earthquake, stories about how corruption, poor infrastructure, shoddy construction, and general poverty in Haiti have largely aggravated the death toll of this disaster.
Let’s take a look into history. Asides from the slave rebellion that took place at the end of the 18th century, France kept behind its prejudice customs between the black and mulatto population. When the United States got involved because they were worried that the black revolution might spread to its borders, things got even worse. For decades, the United States organized a series of interventions, both political and military. This continued until they occupied the country for nearly 20. When the Americans left, Haiti owed a $40 million debt to the United States. With that being said, Haiti is no different. Being discriminated and also being in debt are the biggest causes of poverty in the world. That’s why some will many times hear the phase, “poverty is man-made.”
Prior to the earthquake, Haiti was known to be vulnerable to natural hazards. During hurricane season in 2008, Haiti had been affected by Tropical Storm Fay, and Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike within a month; and it is estimated that 2-3 million Haitians were already food-insecure,
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with 22% of the population suffering from malnutrition. Before the ea...
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...ist in the rebuilding of the country and its infrastructure, makes progress even more lengthy than needed. If the Haitian government is not involved in relief efforts and development, projects will inevitably fail. For progress to be made in Haiti a reforms are required. First, the Haitian government must be willing to take action and responsibility in development and recovery efforts. Second, corruption within the government must be addressed, and solutions must be drawn. Haitians continue to live in poverty and reconstruction efforts have shown little results. Corruption within the Haitian government has been the main contributors to the failure of rebuilding Haiti. If efforts for the rebuilding of the country do not happen, Haiti will remain one of the poorest countries in the world and the already high number of people in poverty will continue to slowly rise.
In David Brooks’ op-ed “The Undying Tragedy,” he discusses four main hypotheses regarding poverty and aid in Haiti. His ideas about poverty, as viewed through the modernization, dependency/world-systems, and post-structural theoretical perspectives lead to three different conclusions. Specifically, as viewed through a modernization lens, the “truths” Brooks puts forth seem fairly in accordance with the perspective, with some minor addendums needed. The dependency and world systems theories again agree with some of Brook’s hypotheses, but would disagree with some of the assumptions he makes in regards to culture and paternalism. Finally, the post-structural theory would find the most problems with Brooks’ claims, likely disagreeing with his assumptions about the effects of culture on poverty and his view of the development process.
According to Climate Risk Index, Haiti is the 3th country most affect by severe weather events. More than 50% of Haitians economy depend on agricutural, but in recently year people face with losting
The Republic of Haiti is in the western part of the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. It is densely populated and has the lowest per capita income in the western hemisphere (Kemp, 2001). The population of more than seven million is made up of mostly descendents of African slaves brought to the West Indies by French colonists. The horrible conditions in Haiti, such as crushing poverty, unemployment and illiteracy, and high rates of acute and chronic illnesses and child and infant mortality, result in the illegal immigration of many Haitians to the United States, France, and other countries in Western Europe. Most immigrants are adults and teens who leave Haiti in tiny boats, despite the risk of drowning and other hazards. According to Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) 2001 statistics, the number of refugees has declined to several thousand per year since the early 1990’s.
The Haitian government’s lack of preparedness for earthquakes despite the fact that earthquakes are common to the region is indicative of the governments inability and lack of resources to properly plan and protect it’s population against natural disasters. This lack of preparedness is not an isolated incident. Prior to the disaster, the World Bank and others were working with the Haitian government to incorporate disaster risk management into Haiti’s development strategy and to develop its capacity for disaster response. This capacity building was in its early stages of development when the earthquake hit, on January 12, 2010, and was mainly focused on hurricanes, which are the most common cause of natural disaster on the island (Margesson, 2010, p. 4).
Haiti is a small country in the West Indies and is the western third of the island Hispaniola (Rodman, Selden). According to Selden Rodman Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and after the earthquake in 2010 they are way worse than they were before. The Earthquake changed a lot for everyone living there rich and poor. “Over 200,000 people died as a result of the earthquake another 2.3 lost their homes” (Haiti). This quote shows how bad the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake was that happened in January of 2010. The conditions are already awful for the people there and all the human rights violations happening are not helping. The conditions are so bad many are trying to flee their country and come to the United States even though they know that the chance of making it there is very slim (Human rights violations…). According to Richard Horton and William Summskill the United States did a survey test called the lancelet to get results from the Haitians on human rights violations happening. The survey showed us murders, women getting raped and other human violations numbers. This showed the United States that we should take action, because we had real evidence from the victims of the human rights violations in Haiti. One of the problems is that the United States does not know how to help. Haiti is so behind in everything; technology, inexperienced policemen, lacking a judicial system and their economy is very unstable. We should take action in Haiti because of these human rights violations; police and government abuse, women not getting their rights, and poor people not getting their rights.
Haiti as a rich history, filled with many peoples’ blood and countless hopes of freedom. With such a rich history, the country has yet to become financially stable because of their past. From the beginning of the French settlement where slaves were brought over from Africa to harvest crops, to the dictatorship of the Duvalier family. Haiti has yet to see a time when they are not in need of help. After the racial caste systems were set in place, many people would not see a truly independent country. When France finally gave independence to Haiti, they did it for a price. After they paid that price, the US occupied them because of their location and many resources. Every year in Haiti’s history as a nation and before has effects on the world today. These effects are not hidden in fine print, but blatantly found within Haiti and those who have been involved with Haiti.
In the past, rafts teeming with Cuban refugees have routinely floated to American shores in order to escape the brutal and oppressive Castro regime. Haitians arriving in the same manner were turned away because their plight did not involve politics but poverty. Semantics aside, it is hard not to wonder if skin color played a role in their expulsion. Furthermore, though Haiti’s government is not classified as communist, the policies and actions of of its officials can arguably be considered equally as
The economics of Haiti has deceased in the last 4 years after the devastating earthquake that struck it 4 years ago. The Haiti economy has become very poor and one of the poorest country in the south, Central America and Caribbean region making it ranked 24 out of 29 countries in this area and its overall score is below average. Haiti’s economic freedom is 48.1 making it economy the 151st freest country while in the last several years Declines in the management of government spending, freedom from corruption, and labor freedom make its overall score 2.6 points lower than last year. Recovering from the disastrous earthquake in 2010 with the support of the U.S. recovering efforts “Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction efforts continue, assisted by substantial aid from the international community. Governing institutions remain weak and inefficient, and overall progress has not been substantial. The parliament has not renewed the mandate of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which had been tasked with overseeing reconstruction efforts but was unpopular.”( .heritage.org). The open market of Haiti trade weighted to be 2.1 this is because the lack of tariffs hamper the trade freedom of Haiti. Foreign investors are given national treatment but the investment is small and the financial sector is remained underdeveloped and does not provide any adequate support.
Haiti was once an economic power when France held claim to the Eastern Part of Hispaniola, then named St. Domingue. It was a French colony flourishing with coffee and sugar. Eventually the ideals of the French Revolution - Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity - made its way to the colonies resulting in a revolution. Haiti was the first slave-led revolution and declared its independence as a republic on January 1, 1804. After their declaration of independence, things started to make a turn for the worst. In 1934 the U.S. forces occupied Haiti to establish stability. The U.S. appointed heads of state but the real power was present in the U.S. occupiers, whereas the heads of state are just figureheads. Haiti’s economy dwindled further down when France demanded reparations of 150 million francs, which wasn’t paid off until 1947. In 65 years, Haiti had 22 heads of state.” In 1957 Francois Duvalier is elected president. He later “creates a totalitarian dictatorship and in 1964 declares himself president-for-life.” This is where Haiti’s political instability really begins.
Why are these background informations useful? Because these informations provide us some important basic knowledges of Haiti. As a country mainly composed of ex-slaves, Haiti is mainly composed of people of African origin. However, why is Haiti so poor compared to its other black majority neighbors such as Saint Kitts and Neves and Barbados? Because Haiti did not attain its independence through peaceful means. Haitian revolt against the French, and they indeed won, against Napoleon Bonaparte[2].
Both cases have a similar situation that calls for immediate action in order to save the lives of people
The effects caused by earthquakes are devastating. They cause loss of human life and have effects on infrastructure and economy. Earthquakes can happen at any time anywhere. In January 12, 2010 an earthquake of a magnitude of 7.0 hit the nation of Haiti. An estimation of 316,000 people were killed, and more than 1.3 million Haitians were left homeless (Earthquake Information for 2010). Haiti was in a terrified chaos. After the earthquake, families were separated because many of the members were killed. Homes, schools, and hospitals were demolished. People lost their most valuable belongings. It will take time for the country to recover from this terrible disaster. The long damages are economic issues, health-state, and environmental issues that effect in the beautiful island of Haiti.
The story of Haiti’s healthcare system is unfortunately tied all too closely to disaster, both man-made and nature-born. This paper will briefly discuss the pre-2010 earthquake healthcare environment in Haiti as the uncertainty that exists provides little opportunity to provide a reasoned understanding of its current national healthcare status.
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
Has anyone ever considered thinking about what the world is really going through? How many people don’t have the necessities in order to survive? If so, what are these people going through? Poverty is the state of one who lacks a standard or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Sometimes events occur that changes a person’s perspective on life. Poverty is one that can have a huge effect on not only one person, but also the people around him/her. Over half of the world is going through this tragedy and we, being the ones who created it, have the responsibility to end it.