A Man-Made Disaster: The Earthquake of January 12, 2010— A Haitian Perspective

Abstract

The earthquake of January 12, 2010, was not the first, nor will it be the last, to hit Haiti, a volcanic land traumatized by natural and man-made disasters from its beginning as a colony and sovereign nation. In the throes of rein-venting itself politically, socially, and culturally since the overthrow of the Duvalier dictatorship, 1957-1986, Haiti now has to reinvent itself physically. Are there bounds to the Haitians’ vaunted resilience? The author proposes to examine the aftermath of the “Goudougoudou,” as Haitians now call the event, relating it to other events that have taxed Haitian resolve over the course of two centuries.