Disaster in Haiti: The earth is shaking again in the crisis state

Haiti was already a poor country in a kind of permanent crisis – now the Caribbean country has been shaken again by a severe earthquake. The extent of the damage cannot yet be estimated.

Numerous cell phone videos show people running into the streets in a panic, countless collapsed buildings can be seen. The epicenter of the quake was twelve kilometers from the municipality of Saint-Luis-du-Sud, and the southern peninsula of Haiti in particular was affected by the quake.

Annalisa Lombardo works for Welthungerhilfe in Haiti. She lives in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and felt the tremor there too. The shocks were very strong, she reports, and they were felt all over the country. In Port-au-Prince, some buildings would also have shaken.

Extent still unclear

A video shows how helpers pull two children out of a buried house. The authorities of Haiti have so far said that there have been deaths, injuries and damage in several parts of the country.

The exact extent cannot yet be determined. Rescue workers speak of difficult communication with the affected regions.

Welthungerhilfe, for which Lombardo works, is mainly active in the north of the country, but several aid organizations have already joined forces to coordinate which aid is now needed first. Lombardo says they are in contact to get a better understanding of the situation: what impact the quake had, how many people are affected. “Usually the first 24 to 72 hours you need water, shelter and food, you have to make sure that the people who have lost their homes are properly housed,” she says.

Hardly any state structures

In Haiti there are hardly any functioning state structures to provide quick first aid. The poor Caribbean country is in a serious political crisis. On July 7th, President Jovenel Moise was assassinated and the country is run by a transitional government. Criminal gangs also create a climate of insecurity. The difficult political situation could also endanger the work of aid workers.

Haiti is repeatedly hit by natural disasters. In January 2010, more than 220,000 people were killed in an earthquake. The densely populated capital Port-au-Prince was at the center of the quake. 1.5 million people lost their homes in the quake. In 2016, a hurricane killed hundreds of people.