Two years since the Haiti earthquake

Two years have passed since a ferocious earthquake levelled much of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed about 250,000 people. It was one of the worst natural disasters of recent times, striking one of the poorest nations. There is still lots of work to do in Haiti (60,000 people still live in tents) and it is worth reading some reports that show how difficult it is for poor countries to recover after such devastating disasters, even with the assistance of foreign help.


Click on the title to read one report about the earthquake


Click here to read a different article


Click here to read a blog from UNICEF about the earthquake

Over 100 dead and thousands suffering from effects of Cholera in Haiti

It's been 9 months since the devestating earthquake that hit Haiti in January. Although the story might not be in the news headlines as often now, thousands of people are still living in tents in temporary camps.
An outbreak of Cholera has killed 135 people and the fear is that if the disease spreads to these camps, then many more hundreds or thousands will also die. This shows how the effects of earthquakes can be felt for long periods after the actual disaster.

Click on the post title to read the full story and watch the latest video news from Haiti

Why did so many people die in the Haiti earthquake?

The devastating earthquakes that hit China on 12 May 2008, Italy on 6 April 2009 and Haiti one month ago all measured above 6.0 and took many lives. But why was the human cost so much greater for Haiti?

Click on the title to go to a BBC report on why the Haiti earthquake was so devestating. It has lots of graphics to look at and provides a fascinating insight into what happened in Haiti.

Haiti earthquake - 2 weeks on

The Haiti earthquake took place over two weeks ago now. The full extent of the horror is becoming clearer. Although there are some heart warming stories, as people are still being found alive (the latest is a 16 year old girl found under the rubble of a house, 15 days after the quake) there are also many terrible reports coming out of Haiti.

If you click the headline above you will be taken to a report that suggests that many of the orphans and vulnerable children left behind in Haiti (up to a million are estimated to have either no parents, one parent or be unattended) are in danger of being sold or abused.

There are also reports of increased sexual crimes against women and lawlessness in the country. Speaking on American TV on Wednesday night, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said he has received reports of kids being sold, and he believed human organs were also being taken from victims of the quake for profit.

Read more here

Earthquake in Haiti

On Tuesday a big earthquake hit the poor Caribbean country of Haiti.

The extent of the devastation from the huge quake in Haiti is slowly emerging thousands of people feared dead.

Jordan, Brazil and China have all reported deaths, and France says it fears the Tunisian head of the UN mission in Haiti has been killed.

The 7.0-magnitude quake, Haiti's worst in two centuries, struck south of the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Tuesday.

The Red Cross says up to three million people have been affected

The quake's epicentre was only 10 miles from the Capital city, Port-au-Prince, which has a population of about 1 million, and aftershocks as powerful as 5.9 rattled the city throughout the night and into today. Reports on casualties and damage were slow to get out of Haiti due to communication problems.

As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is ill-equipped to respond to such a disaster, lacking heavy equipment to move debris and a sufficient force of emergency personnel.


Click the headline to go to BBC reports about the disaster.