Haiti has suffered from a terrible earthquake which has flattened its main city and left thousands dead and many more homeless. This is also the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. As such, its ability to cope with a disaster of this scale is severely limited. Disasters, whether natural or otherwise tend to test the mettle of the affected society to the utmost. Haiti seems to be unusually ill equipped to deal with a disaster of this scale. Much of the blame for this seems to rest with interference by outside powers.
Most societies have a natural resilience that enables them to recover fairly quickly from disasters and disturbances. Most of the affected areas of the countries that were affected by the Tsunami of 2004 were well on the road to recovery with a fairly short span of time. Sometimes, outsiders are surprised by the extent of the ill preparedness of societies that one normally thinks would be fairly well prepared. Thus the outside world was surprised by the inept response of the US government to Hurricane Katrina.
In recent time, the scale and speed of natural and man made disasters seems to have increased enormously. Partly this is due to larger number of people living in disaster prone areas. Thus for example, there is an increase in the number of people living in flood prone riverside areas. This in turn is driven partly by a larger number of people seeking housing on increasingly scarce land, partly by developers opening up marginal areas for developers and partly by increasing land prices in areas that are considered desirable. Then there are the disasters which are accentuated because of development. Economic forces have increased pressure on all types of natural resources. A major reason why the Asian Tsunami was so devastating was that the mangrove swamps that would have absorbed the force of the waves had been cleared in the name of development and tourism. Similarly in Haiti, forest cover was denuded in the name of development. In urban landscapes, the effect of disaster is heightened as a result of greed. Land developers in a bid to push up profits and complete projects quickly cut corners. This results in unsafe structures which collapse when something like an earthquake or a storm strikes. When entire infrastructures collapse, relief work becomes extremely difficult.
Most societies have a natural resilience that enables them to recover fairly quickly from disasters and disturbances. Most of the affected areas of the countries that were affected by the Tsunami of 2004 were well on the road to recovery with a fairly short span of time. Sometimes, outsiders are surprised by the extent of the ill preparedness of societies that one normally thinks would be fairly well prepared. Thus the outside world was surprised by the inept response of the US government to Hurricane Katrina.
In recent time, the scale and speed of natural and man made disasters seems to have increased enormously. Partly this is due to larger number of people living in disaster prone areas. Thus for example, there is an increase in the number of people living in flood prone riverside areas. This in turn is driven partly by a larger number of people seeking housing on increasingly scarce land, partly by developers opening up marginal areas for developers and partly by increasing land prices in areas that are considered desirable. Then there are the disasters which are accentuated because of development. Economic forces have increased pressure on all types of natural resources. A major reason why the Asian Tsunami was so devastating was that the mangrove swamps that would have absorbed the force of the waves had been cleared in the name of development and tourism. Similarly in Haiti, forest cover was denuded in the name of development. In urban landscapes, the effect of disaster is heightened as a result of greed. Land developers in a bid to push up profits and complete projects quickly cut corners. This results in unsafe structures which collapse when something like an earthquake or a storm strikes. When entire infrastructures collapse, relief work becomes extremely difficult.
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