Haiti

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It has a population of over eight million people. It does not have good hospitals or modern factories. The people who live in Haiti have a lower life expectancy and thousands of them suffer from AIDS and other serious illnesses. 80% of the population is Catholic and French is the official language. The country always suffers from floods, earthquakes and severe storms that uproot trees and destroy hundreds of houses.

Haiti was discovered by Columbus in 1492 and later on became a Spanish colony. In the 17th century it became a French colony and became a centre for importing slaves from Africa. Soon after that Haiti became an important centre for the sugar industry and forestry.

The slaves in Haiti struggled for many years to gain their freedom. In 1804 Haiti declared its independence and became the first black republic.

Nowadays most of the people in Haiti live on under a dollar a day and many children die before the age of five.

On 12th January 2010 Haiti was hit by a strong earthquake and thousands of buildings collapsed including hotels, schools, hospitals, the United Nations Headquarters and the presidential palace. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people died and 1.5 million became homeless because of the earthquake. After the quake took place, people in Haiti lost access to drinking water, electricity and gas and thousands of dead bodies were left in the streets and that became a health hazard. More than 70,000 bodies were buried in mass graves and tens of thousands of bodies had to be burnt.

Some survivors were saved from under the rubble after spending a few days there, while thousands of others were still trapped under collapsed buildings. Doctors had to perform amputations in the streets and carry out other life-saving operations in hospitals that lacked basic medical supplies.

The main seaport of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, was severely damaged and international help could not arrive in time. The airport control tower and the main runway were also damaged and that slowed down the delivery of the much needed medical and food supplies.