U.S. President John F. Kennedy was one man, and a popular dinner table icebreaker is often a conversation about one’s whereabouts when he was killed. On Jan. 12, 2010, a massive earthquake hit Haiti and by Jan. 24, at least 50 further aftershocks had been recorded.
An estimated 3.5 million people were affected by the quake, at least 100,000 people — and perhaps as many as 300,000, depending on which estimate you believe — are thought to have died. Everyone in Haiti on that dark day remembers where they were.
To test the nation further, October 2010 saw a cholera outbreak that has, to date, killed an estimated 8,562 people and infected about 700,000 others. It was the first cholera outbreak in Haiti in more than 100 years. It would have been ill-prepared to respond even without the earthquake. Tropical storms Isaac and Sandy also hit the country, in August and October 2012, respectively, hampering reconstruction, causing more death and leaving large parts of the country under water.
About the author
John Chaloner
John Chaloner is the country director of Plan International in Haiti. He has been working in the development sector since 1974, firstly in teaching in East and West Africa and then in development programming and administration in the U.K., Sudan and the Pacific. He started working for Plan in 1990.
