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The Sunday Magazine

Haiti in the wake of the 'quake

Haiti is at a crossroads. It has been more than four-and-a-half years since an earthquake hit the poverty-stricken country, destroying much of the country's fragile infrastructure and buildings. Death toll estimates ranged from 92,000 to as high as 316,000, with another 1.5 million people displaced from their homes and three million affected in some way. ...
CBC Radio ·
Sunday Edition16:00"The Big Truck that Went By" author Jonathan Katz (Interview)
Haiti is at a crossroads. It has been more than four-and-a-half years since an earthquake hit the poverty-stricken country, destroying much of the country's fragile infrastructure and buildings. 

Death toll estimates ranged from 92,000 to as high as 316,000, with another 1.5 million people displaced from their homes and three million affected in some way. 

The world, including Canada, pledged billions for reconstruction. Rebuilding projects began. Many were completed. But the international community brought a new set of problems, including a deadly cholera outbreak. And now, Haiti has been largely left on its own. Before the earthquake, it was the poorest country in the western hemisphere and that is what it remains. Elections later this fall will help determine the future direction of the country...if they happen at all. 

Jonathan Katz is a former journalist with the Associated Press who was working in Haiti when the earthquake hit in January, 2010. He is also author of The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster. 

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