CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen's Participation Call for International Solidarity in Commitment to Aid Haiti

The aftermath of Haiti’s quake

By Anabel Cruz, Chair of the CIVICUS Board

We have started 2010 on a very sad note: a 7.0-magnitude quake struck the south of Haiti late Tuesday afternoon, demolishing entire buildings and inflicting destruction and casualties yet to be accurately tallied. More than 100,000 are feared dead, and the quake destroyed or severely damaged at least eight health facilities, including at least four hospitals. Our brothers and sisters in Haiti have endured too much suffering in the last two centuries: many decades of colonialism, three decades of a brutal military dictatorship, extreme poverty and, more recently, the consequences of tremendous natural disasters. Haiti has the Americas’ highest rate of HIV/AIDS, the highest rate of maternal mortality and child mortality. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and suffered through four major hurricanes or storms during 2008. It is especially vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters. To read more, click here.