Americans should be concerned for Haiti but also be concerned about who and what organizations will be helping the country in the aftermath.
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE POVERTY RESPONSIBLE FOR SO MUCH DEVASTATION
Haiti is a country internationally known to be one of the poorest (if not the poorest) country in the world. Why is the damage in Haiti so catastrophic?
According to the CIA World Factbook, the GDP is 9.2 billion. The real annual income per capita is $250. The population below the poverty line is 80%. Unemployment is 70%. And, it has an external debt of $1 billion that European countries and the U.S. have used to suppress and oppress social movements in the country.
U.S. engineers suggest "lax building standards" played a role in the devastation. Buildings lacked quality control and were not built with good engineering knowledge. In many cases, nonductile concrete was used to build the building creating a "great seismic life safety hazard" because of the "collapse potential" of nonductile concrete.
High population density along with the fact that, according to the New York Times, many poor residents live in tin-roof shacks, which sit on steep ravines, also intensified the damage.
Lack of disaster preparedness also was a factor. If people were more aware of the risk, the mortality in and after an earthquake would significantly drop as it has in poor countries like Bangladesh.
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