Haiti 2010

Haiti's Beach

During this week I would like to bring my reader’s attention to one more category of natural disasters: Land Movement Disasters. This category contains avalanches, earthquakes, lahars and volcanic eruptions. While talking about these disasters, I can’t avoid the recent terrible case of Haiti earthquake.

Haiti was starting to show signs of recovering from its myriad political, criminal and natural crises and achieving enough stability that visitors could safely be welcomed. Haiti had been eyed as a potential tourism hotspot, with several projects already completed or underway.

• In May, former President Bill Clinton was appointed United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti, and quickly targeted tourism as a key area for private investment.
• At a Miami conference, Clinton suggested that organized tours in Haiti could bring in as many as 2 to 4 million tourists a year and create significant job growth.
• Haiti saw about 800,000 visitors in 2008, about 500,000 of which arrived on cruise ships.
• In October, the Haitian government signed a $30 million deal with Venezuela build a new international airport in Cap-Haitien—about 85 miles from Port-au-Prince on the country’s north coast.
• The U.S. Agency for International Development had granted $15 million for three-year development project, part of which would involve training locals to work in the hospitality and tourism industry.
• Less than a week before the earthquake, Choice Hotels International had announced its plans to build two new hotels in Haiti—a Comfort Inn and a boutique hotel—in the township of Jacmel.
• A $40 million road project was being planned to link Labadee to the Citadelle and Sans Souci Palace—a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982. The nearest town, Milot, would be transformed into a tourist destination from where visitors could hike or ride on horseback up to the Citadelle.

(according to Peter Greenberg, Travel Editor for CBS News)

And now try to realize that all projects and achievement of Haiti as a tourism destination were ruined in one day by a huge earthquake. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, at 4:53 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12, followed by a series of powerful aftershocks. It was the most powerful earthquake in more than 200 years.

The newscast:

According to The Red Cross, an estimated 3 million people were affected by the earthquake. As of February 12 The Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless.

The process of recovery takes a lot of time and huge money to be invested. Now Haiti have to cope with the loss of thousands of lives and the destruction of public infrastructure. A wall at the famous Hotel Oloffson has collapsed, as has the Haitian National Palace and the Port au Prince cathedral. The Hotel Montana has been destroyed; the same is true of the Karibe Hotel and doubtless many others. The first important issue is to restore the place and people’s lives and only after that it is possible to speak how to bring Haiti back on the tourism map.

Deepest condolences and sympathy to all those who suffered from the earthquake in Haiti...