Haiti Quake New Blow for Country Mired in Misery

PORT-AU-PRINCE, January 13 (AP): The earthquake that plunged Haiti into darkness is another blow to a nation that has seen more than its share of misery. Endemic instability, murderous dictators, more than 30 coups and a seemingly endless series of hurricanes and other natural disasters have claimed countless souls over Haiti’s tumultuous 206-year history, leaving it the Americas’ poorest country and utterly dependent on foreign aid.
Add to that Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude quake, the strongest to hit what is now Haiti since 1770. Initial reports on its destruction are frightening. The quake occurred along a fault line believed responsible for seven large quakes between 1618 and 1860, said Harley Benz of the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado. According to historical records, the 1860 quake struck Port-au-Prince and may have produced a tsunami.
The largest recorded earthquake in modern times on the island of Hispaniola was an 8.1-magnitude temblor that produced a tsunami and killed 1,790 people in 1946. Centered in the Dominican Republic, it extended into Haiti, according to the USGS.
Haiti was born in 1804, after the world’s first successful slave rebellion. French troops surrendered to forces led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. But the country’s leaders drove it into a paralyzing disorder from which it has yet to recover. Political turmoil prompted U.S. Marines to occupy Haiti from 1915 to 1934. In 1937, some 18,000 Haitians were massacred along the Dominican border on the orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.
In 1957, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier rose to power, launching a 29-year dynasty of terror. Tens of thousands were killed under Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. It wasn’t until 1990 that Haiti had its first democratically elected president: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a slum priest who inspired the overwhelmingly poor majority. But Aristide was overthrown in 1991, and Haitians took to the seas by the thousands in a desperate exodus to Florida.
President Bill Clinton sent 20,000 U.S. troops to Haiti in 1994 to restore Aristide, who was re-elected in 2000. Aristide’s initial promise soon flickered: Accusations that his party rigged legislative elections, pocketed millions of dollars in foreign aid and sent gangsters to attack opponents produced a bloody rebellion that ousted him in 2004.
Two years ago, President Rene Preval implored the world to commit to long-term solutions for his nation, saying a “paradigm of charity” would not end cycles of poverty and disaster. “Once this first wave of humanitarian compassion is exhausted, we will be left as always, truly alone, to face new catastrophes and see restarted, as if in a ritual, the same exercises of mobilization,” Preval declared.
The same could be said today.

 

VATICAN CITY, January 13 (Reuters): Pope Benedict on Wednesday ordered that the Roman Catholic Church’s extensive worldwide charity network be immediately activated to help the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Speaking at his weekly general audience, the pope also appealed to the international community and individuals to be quick and generous in their aid. “The Catholic Church will immediately activate (its aid) through its charity institutions in order to respond to the most urgent needs of the population,” he said.
A major earthquake struck the capital of impoverished Haiti on Tuesday, flattening buildings and burying hundreds, possibly thousands, of people under the rubble, witnesses said. The Catholic Church has one of the world’s largest and most capillary charity networks. “I appeal to everyone’s generosity, so that these brothers and sisters of ours who are living through a time of need and pain receive our concrete solidarity and the effective help of the international community,” he said. Around 80 percent of Haiti’s 10 million-strong population is Catholic and 16 percent Protestant. However, most Haitians also practice voodoo, a mixture of Christian and African beliefs.

Quake-stricken Haiti

Following are key facts about Haiti, which was struck by a major earthquake on Tuesday that knocked down buildings in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

*    The Caribbean nation of 9 million is a former French colony and the world's oldest black republic, founded by freed slaves following a revolt that led to independence in 1804.
*    Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas with an annual per-capita income of $560. It ranks 146th out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index.
*    More than half the population lives on less than $1 a day and 78 percent on less than $2. There is a high infant mortality rate (60 for every 1,000 births) and the prevalence of HIV among those between ages 15 and 49 is 2.2 percent.
*    Haiti's infrastructure is close to total collapse and severe deforestation has left only 2 percent of forest cover.
*    After decades of dictatorship, former Roman Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected leader in 1990. He was ousted by a military coup in 1991 but reinstated with U.S. backing. He was forced out of the country and into exile in 2004 by a rebellion of gangs and former soldiers.
*    Haiti has been led by President Rene Preval since May 2006 when the country returned to constitutional rule.

(Reuters)