Liberating Spaces

Naturally, most newspapers’ front pages are dominated by Monday’s Haiti’s earthquake. Watching Euronews this morning, I was especially struck by the headlines of three outlets: The Independent (UK), Libération (France) and La Stampa (Italy). The three of them used explicitly Christian terms. ‘Hell in Haiti’ on The Independent, ‘Terre maudite’ says the Libération and ‘Haiti, il giorno dell’Apocalisse’ on the front page of La Stampa: hell, apocalypse and damnation.

Why did it strike me? Because they give the idea that what happened in Haiti is mostly the fault of God, of forces beyond our control. And this, I reckon, is not entirely true. The human hand can be clearly seen in the effects of Haiti’s disasters. The earthquake is not the only natural disaster that Haiti had to be confronted with. In fact, earthquake are not so common. Hurricanes and flooding are much more present in Haitian lives. The death toll, and human and material damages of the earthquake, hurricanes and flooding are in great part the effect of four intertwined factors: (1) poverty, (2) corruption, (3) overexploitation of natural resources and (4) overpopulation.

(1) Poverty and (2) corruption leave the population unprotected against the well-known effects of natural disasters. Will Wilkinson from Cato Institute writes:

Economic growth creates roofs that don’t blow away, walls that don’t crumble, hospitals to tend the sick, and generators to keep to the ventilators on. The self-dealing thugs that botch the institutions of growth don’t just keep their people poor. They keep them vulnerable, exposed

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, and ranks 149th of 182 countries in the UN Human Development Index. In a 2004 survey, Transparency International concluded that Haiti’s corruption was endemic.

(3) Overexploitation and (4) overpopulation remove the natural defenses that can protect life, human, animal or vegetal, against recurrent natural disasters, and put vulnerable populations in jeopardy. Some people have linked flooding and mudslides to excessive logging. Admittedly, there are doubts about links between the latter and the occurrence of those phenomena. Yet stripping bare the mountains and hills of Haiti might be making their effects more severe. At the same time, a high concentration of population gives opportunity to more casualties, especially if it happens in conditions of extreme poverty and corrupt public management. Haiti has (or had) around 10 million people, with a density of around 360/km2, ranking 30 in the world’s most highly dense countries.

In my opinion, one conclusion of this reckoning is that we must take responsibility for what is our fault. Obviously, it is absolutely necessary to react quick and effectively in the moment of disaster to save as many lives as possible. But we must recognize the presence of our hand in Haiti’s “malediction”. And then, we must act to prevent future tragedies and misery. The alternative is to mourn today and forget tomorrow, and then mourn again and forget. Waiting for “God” to strike again.