Haitians walk past damaged buildings (AFP/Getty Images)
The 7.0 earthquake was the worst Haiti had seen in over 200 years. The International Red Cross estimates that 45,000-50,000 perished and about three million are in need of help. It was already the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere and nobody yet knows the full extent of the devastation.
On The Takeaway, we’ve been following the relief effort, getting updates on the ground, and checking in with the Haitian community in the United States. You can see a list of aid organizations and how to help out here.
All this week on The Takeaway, we've been asking listeners to weigh in on what Haiti needs from the international community in order to move on from the devastating earthquake that struck two months ago. A few listeners homed in on one particular issue: jobs.
With 21,000 Haitian American students, Miami-Dade schools have struggled with the aftermath of Haiti's earthquake perhaps more than any other school system in the United States.
Radio has always been an important part of Haitian society. And since the earthquake, it has played an even more critical role, serving as the primary mode of transmitting information about aid.
A group of ten American Baptists accused of kidnapping 33 Haitian children, who the group members said were orphans, has raised complicated questions about the intersection of good intentions and misguided actions. One thing is certain: not all of the 33 children were orphans. In fact, the majority of the children do have families. The group that was asked to look after the children following their ordeal is SOS Children's Villages.
Haitian airlifts have resumed, but they're still flying almost exclusively to Florida – and to Miami's overburdened hospitals. According to Florida Governor Charlie Crist, the state has taken more than 500 injured evacuees from the Haiti earthquake since it struck three weeks ago. Doctors there says 150 of those have gone to two hospitals in Miami.
The massive earthquake that struck Haiti nearly three weeks ago has left development economists and international aid workers scrambling for the best way to rebuild the country. Some want the United States to take the lead in a Marshall Plan-type recovery program, while others advocate leaving Haiti alone as much as possible. We find out how Haiti might best rebuild — and how the international community can help.
Yesterday, we talked about the anticipated influx of Haitian immigrants to Florida in the upcoming weeks. Today, we look at a place where Haitians are already seeking refuge: across the border in the Dominican Republic. Before the earthquake, up to a million Haitians were already living in the neighboring nation – many of them undocumented. Now thousands more are expected to cross into the Dominican Republic in the coming months.
More than two weeks after the earthquake struck in Haiti, destroying homes and tearing apart families, Haitians are scrambling to find new places to live. It is expected that many may seek refuge in Miami, a city which already has a large Haitian immigrant population.
Singer Wyclef Jean has raised some two million dollars since the Haiti earthquake struck two weeks ago through his charity, Yele Haiti. We ask him what the country needs most right now.
The tragedy in Haiti has been captured in powerful photographs that reveal the extent of the human suffering in that country. But are the images too graphic? At what point do photographs become exploitative and blur the the lines of ethical photojournalism?
It's been almost two weeks since the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti and the government has formally called an end to the search and rescue efforts. The focus of relief will soon shift from treating the wounded survivors to embarking on the long slog of rebuilding a collapsed city. We get an update on the overall situation there and then we examine how other cities dealt with reconstruction challenges after a disaster like this.
We continue our conversation with Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Three leaders of Haiti’s women's movement were killed in the January 12 earthquake. All three had been part of important advocacy work of great benefit to women and girls in Haiti. We speak with Carolle Charles, a friend and colleague of the women, about what those deaths mean for the future of women's rights and activism in Haiti.
The number of orphans in Haiti is expected to double after last week's earthquake; there's rising debate over the best way to help these children.
Paul Haggart sends these photos from Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area.
The BBC’s World Have Your Say has been speaking with ordinary people in Haiti about the disastrous earthquake that took place one week ago.
An update from Carol Fipp, an aid worker with The Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti. Fipp wrote to us on Sunday, frustrated with how slowly their waiting hospital was receiving patients from Port-au-Prince.
We received five helicopter deliveries of 12 patients today. We had four U.S. Coast Guard airlifts and one Navy airlift. It's definitely an increase from yesterday, but we can still handle many more. It is an improvement, but the current effort is still inadequate; many more people are stranded in Port-Au-Prince, in dire need of care, and the clock is ticking. Our biggest obstacle is the lack of helicopters. Our surgical teams did 16 procedures today, operating until 11:30 PM tonight, and we have six surgeries scheduled for tomorrow morning. We expect the airlifts to increase, and expect possibly two bus loads of injured from Port-au-Prince — a 75 mile ride, which takes six-eight hours over rough roads.
Haiti’s music reflects the country’s diverse heritage and responds to its current struggles.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is the White House cabinet member who would be in charge of administering any new health care system in the United States. But right now her department is focused on the relief effort in Haiti, with more than 250 of her department's personnel providing medical care to survivors in the quake-ravaged country.
It's been one week since the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, destroying much of the capital, Port-au-Prince and, according to some estimates, killing as many as 100,000 people.