2010 Haiti Earthquake: the Western Hemisphere’s Deadliest Quake 

Thanks to Warby Parker for sponsoring this video! Visit warbyparker.com/geographics to try on 5 pairs of glasses at home for FREE! Home Try-Ons are only offered in the US.

My best friend lived through this, she was 13 or 14 at the time of the earthquake. The only time she has ever brought it up (because I make a point not to), she confided in me that she still has nightmares about the things that she saw and experienced in the aftermath. I cannot begin to understand what her family went through, but they did all survive, thankfully.

I think another big issue was that in March 2011 the tsunami in Japan diverted a lot of international attention. Haiti was already old news. And, unlike Haiti, there *was* a lot of footage and pictures coming out from Japan immediately.

My cousin, a nurse, went after the quake for humanitarian relief... she said it was a string of the most horrible things she had ever seen.

I was boots on the ground within the first ten days. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. Medical emergencies were everywhere, the dead and buried all around. It was unreal. After three months I was rotated back home. You don’t forget what utter destruction looks like, or the people who need so much help, but it’s just not fast enough. It was hell on earth.

It was very hard watching this. I lived through it and saw the devastation first hand. It felt like the end of the world for 10 days before my parents found a way to send me back to the USA through DR (I was home in Haiti for the holidays after my 1st semester in college). Thank you for touching this subject with such respect.

I had a family member pass away in Haiti during the quake. He was in his hotel when the building collapsed on him. He went with a group that were there on a humanitarian type of trip to help the people of Haiti. I think quite a few people in his group were killed when the hotel fell... The quake caused so much devastation. Incredibly sad.

This is why many nations have strict building codes in disaster prone areas. A few months later S. America experienced a quake 500 times stronger, but only a few dozen died.

3:00 - Chapter 1 - Faultlines 7:15 - Chapter 2 - Chronicles of a disaster foretold 10:05 - Chapter 3 - Day of destruction 13:55 - Chapter 4 - Help 18:00 - Chapter 5 - Aftertshocks - Chapter 6 -

It's not that wood is less deadly if it collapses on top of you. It's that it's flexible, able to move with the shaking, and is much more likely not to collapse at all. It might not be habitable afterwards and need rebuilding, but the entire thing isn't going to collapse on top of you. On the other hand, a solid brick wall might feel like the epitome of strength, but when the ground underneath it shakes, it simply crumbles. That's why here in California we don't build with unreinforced masonry, and older masonry buildings that have somehow managed to survive need extensive retrofitting if they're to survive much longer.

Haiti is a nation of very proud people. I have traveled there 7 times. My parish is twinned with that of St. Marguerite. The first mass I attended there was a violent downpour. The ceiling of the church was full of holes and the water poured in everywhere.

Over the 30 years or so I've been old enough to be aware of world events on some level, one pattern I've noticed when it comes to natural disasters is that the deadliest and most destructive ones are earthquakes. Especially megathrust earthquakes like this Haiti one, the one which caused the 2003 Indonesian Tsunami, the one which caused the 2011 Sendai earthquake that led to Fukushima and the tsunamis there. And as I'm sure has been mentioned in this video, there is a fault line called the Cascadia Range off the coast of Vancouver, BC, and running along the coast next to Washington State. It hasn't had a major earthquake yet, but it's one of those things where it's a matter of WHEN it'll happen, not IF. And when it does, since it would be a megathrust earthquake it would likely be in the neighbourhood of a 7.0 or 8.0 on the richter scale. Keeping in mind the scale is logarithmic so an 8.0 magnitude earthquake is 33 times more powerful than a 7.0. And a 9.0, is 1,097 times more powerful than a 7.0 (33 x 33). And for the curious, that's the case all through the scale. A 2.0 is 33 times stronger than a 1.0. A 3.0 is 33 x 33 times more powerful than a 1.0. A 4.0 is 33 x 33 x 33 times more powerful. By the time you get up to a 5.0 magnitude, it's 1,185,921 times more powerful than a 1.0. And a 9.0 by comparison to a 1.0 would be 1,406,408,618,241 times more powerful because I know someone will want to know.

I had a former coworker whose family was from that area in Haiti. She still had family that lived there when the earthquake struck. It took her weeks to get in touch with them. Thankfully her family was safe but she knew others who weren’t so lucky. Very sad.

I remember working for Western Union during this, they amongst others had a facility set up so people could donate to the Haiti relief program. The amount of customers calling up to donate, and the fact that most of the calls each day were for that purpose, warmed my heart

I was there, this is the first time I’ve really heard this recounted in depth with perspective. He’s almost underselling how bad it was. I went to war in some pretty sporty areas, but I watched more death and suffering in any random week during that 60-day deployment than all my other deployments combined. The description of the capital being leveled like Independence Day is spot on, and the first few weeks I was there, the night in the city was unreal- the only light cutting through the wall of darkness was smoldering rubble. I worked in the University Hospital by the capital and the amount of death in the beginning was really was biblical, made worse by the rotting flesh of dead nurses baking in the tropical heat across the street. Every week, a new batch of NGOs would arrive and by the time they rotated out, they were completely ground down by what little they were accomplishing, it was a cyclical metamorphosis from hopeful/righteously indignant about the Haitian plight to overwhelmed to defeated and cynical- a process that only took a week. There was no escaping the suffering because we lived in the hospital, cries of agony in the morning- cries of agony before bed. I could go on, but I had largely put this out of mind until today and I’m glad he didn’t sugar coat the effectiveness of the response effort.

If you look at satellite images of the island of Hispaniola the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic stands out. The Dominican side is green and lush. The Haitian side is raw earth. When the inevitable hurricanes hit the island the deluge is largely absorbed by the forests in the east. A handful of vulnerable Dominican structures, all built with the expectation of storms, are damaged and restored in a few months. In Haiti the hillsides have been denuded of all trees and large bushes because they are the only source of energy for cooking and heating, so flash floods of mud rip through the country, removing whatever skin of topsoil remains from two centuries of previous hurricanes, and sweeping away whatever structures lie in their path. The ability of the land to feed the population goes down. Despite the massive loss of life from these catastrophes the population of Haiti continues to grow. "Today, there are 339 inhabitants per square kilometer, and the United Nations medium fertility scenario forecasts further growth of nearly fifty percent by 2040." The most effective form of "birth control" is education, particularly of women. With unreliable electricity and few sources of employment millions of people have too much unproductive time on their hands and the most popular form of entertainment is sex. Matthew 5:45 "... he makes his sun rise on both evil and good people, and he lets rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous."

I was in 8th grade when this happened. My science teacher spent a good amount of time explaining tectonics, other historical severe earthquakes, and why Haiti was so devastated by this one. Opened my eyes to a lot of things

Once again, GREED is the worst enemy of humanity. Every corrupt official and organization has blood on its hands. Haiti could have been rebuilt 10 times over had everyone helped like they were supposed to. But no. Of course not.

I hate to be this person but in the Caribbean, when something happens to Haiti, no one is ever really surprised anymore. Ever since the Haitian Revolution, its just been all downhill from there and the country can never catch a break! Mass, unbridled poverty and hunger; natural disasters that constantly devastates the country, dictatorship under Papa Doc, coups and political assassinations up to very recently. Damn, Haiti definitely needs a break.

It's utterly amazing that Haiti is the second oldest republic North America. For over 200 years they've persevered despite everything they've endured.

You should do one on the All Saint's Day earthquake in Lisbon. It all but helped bring down Portugal's status as a world power.

I would like to point out right after the earthquake within 3 hours the United States sent over 3,000 personal to help the Haitian survivors in Haiti.

I worked with a Haitian charity. At the time. They had an unwritten non interference mandate. So the real help stayed here. Just like Simon noted. I quit.

I like learning about natural disasters around the world hopefully we get more videos on the subject

I've been to Haiti twice. My biggest takeaway is the people are incredible and the country is beautiful. It really is.

Members of my church went to Haiti after the earthquake. They befriended a young girl of about 12. Her head was shaved, and she went out of her way to pretend she was a boy. She told them that rapes of girls her age by roving bends of thugs were an everyday occurrence .

This happened on my birthday and damn, I remember that day like it was yesterday. Crushed my spirits then, and still makes me sad when I remember it now.

Thanks to Warby Parker for sponsoring this video! Visit warbyparker.com/geographics to try on 5 pairs of glasses at home for FREE! Home Try-Ons are only offered in the US.

Don't forget about the 2010 song, We Are The World: 25 for Haiti. That must have help with earthquake relief. All those talented/giving celebrities performing a song one time in a recording studio.

I was deployed to Haiti in April of 2010…. I landed in port-au-prince…. It was truly humbling and mind boggling at the destruction. Even more incredible was the people’s hope.

Great video Simon “Nomis”, have you done one on the Christchurch quake? I was the in 2016 and it wasn’t rebuilt and I heard the called it the container city as there was many containers with shops, cafes and bars within containers stacked in the CBD. Keep up the good work fella 👍

6:17 lol at Simon's vocal emphasis when he says "you'd rather be the little pig who built his house out of STONE!"

I admit that although I watch every one of your videos, this is the first one where I had tears in my eyes. A huge tragedy. Thank you for sharing this very informative piece.

Good video 👍

Rest In Peace to those that passed away.

Let’s remember the Clinton Foundation’s heroic efforts to bring relief to Haiti. That the Clintons generously postered for themselves.

I was in early elementary school when this happened, and I didn’t understand why my dad had to leave for two weeks. Now I know it’s because he went to Haiti to help rebuild

I still remember when Reverend Pat Robertson said the earthquake and the mass casualties were caused by the Haitians after making a pact with the Devil to free them from slavery by the French.

Google recently removed Haitian Creole from Google Translate's text-to-speech system. Says it all, really, doesn't it.

Topic suggestion(s): lake Bonneville and lake Missoula and their corresponding floods, thank you for all you do fact boy!

"it killed untold numbers of Colonial @ssholes" Love you Simon and your writer(s)

A silent fault line isnt a good thing, it is a dangerous one. As far as I am aware, earthquakes are a release of pressure - tectonic plates push against each other until something snaps, for lack of a better term. So the longer a fault like is quiet, the more worried I'd be about the quake.

This one was heart breaking

the earthquake in chile that killed a third of their population was quite bad as well

Great job as always. Can you do a video on Haitian President Jovenel Moise and his assignation?

My dad went there for humanatrian relief (he's an EMT) with our church shortly after this, and he almost never brings it up. I now know why...

I’m glad that you delved into the appalling failure that was the humanitarian relief effort for Haiti. I first read about it years ago. The Red Cross in particular has a lot to answer for, to this day I refuse to donate to them because of their response to Haiti.

The one in which all the Hollywood goofballs turned up simply for the cameras.

This is just sad, especially those so poor, and destitute that they can't get out of poverty. I don't think any of us can imagine but, when you look in the wood lines and overpasses you can see it the number of tents where human souls like us are living. It really is sad.

Everything that happened with the money that was supposed to go to Haiti that exact same thing is happening now with the money that's supposed to be going to help Ukraine

Of course it's on everyone else but Haitians to fix their own country?

The Haiti earthquake was horrendous. a friend of mine who is a Salvation Army officer helped with the clean up and helping the displaced people in refugee camps.

Me sitting here About halfway through the video wondering if he's going to mention the Clinton foundation, and how they got rich from this crisis and didn't do anything for Haiti.

When the 2021 quake hit and was bigger I was like holy shit this will be bad

I survived this earthquake. Most horrible day of my life... By far

That’s why people are starting to question giving. Of all the money that was given for Haiti they could have rebuilt the country twice over.

a 'Whistle-Out' to Whistler!

I remember when that NPR article came out. Absolutely devastating to read how poorly the Red Cross behaved and I've never donated to any large charity since. I look for local groups who are near the people who need the help. I have been donating to directly to individual Ukraine residents through Air B&B since March. This way I know I'm helping actual citizens and not padding the pockets of politicians, celebrities, organization CEOs, etc.

After it happened I was living in the streets with my family for months without barely any food and water .. I was 7 years old . I remember like it was yesterday

I remember it so well. I was 11. It was scary

And the horror and suffering continue to this day.

Tragic story whenever we hear human suffering, but some.places are worse than others This has to be down there at the worst 😞🤦🏻‍♂️

2010 was a year of horrible earthquakes. But Haiti was completely forgotten and left to rot.

When they say "lessons need to be learned", they forget to hire the teachers to hold said lessons...

This story is so tragic

I went online and found photos of corpses of victims. They were crushed contorted, severely burned. Some people were even dismembered it’s horrible how the bodies were piled up like leaves decaying in the streets half naked.

We have to get better at this.

They should have started with an up to date sewer system with treatment stations, building from the ground up. This was a failure of humanity fueled by greed.

I'm homeless and I actually sleep in front of a warby parker store. I help clean the area and stuff so they are really cool.

Now I want a poptart

There was money there., Maybe not all that was promised. But if charities weren't actually on the ground or working with someone directly on the ground, the money was squandered or stolen by the "authorities." Whoever comes to power just exploits all they can until overthrown, and this cycle is so normal, it doesn't seem people even hope to have a functioning government that works for the people. But they've never gotten to experience it, so its like - in some ways - its hard to know what you are missing. The people and the culture can be so beautiful, but as a nationstate, it has basically failed and continues to exist that way. And its too complex a problem for people to make a simple concise argument that could solve all of their problems if implemented correctly. And its too complex a problem for even kind-hearted people to throw a ton of money towards fixing and assume that will solve it. Unfortunately Simon is correct. It is still the same, or worse. Every hurricane season I prepare myself for that inevitable tragedy, the one that waits in the future, even as others continue on in the present.

Hearing how do many are still in such bad condition makes me curious how the current pandemic has effected them as well.

After the 2008 hurricanes and 2010 earthquake, one can’t help but feel absolutely terrible for the people of Haiti. I wish I could wave a magic wand and send them hundreds of billions of dollars in new infrastructure construction.

This is the only video you've done that's actually made me cry. We failed the people of Haiti, we being the world. The fact no one saw prison time for all the missing money is just as bad.

1st natural disaster I remember born in 2001 so yeah missed Katrina and Indonesia tsunami

Haiti and Haitian corruption is responsible for Haiti's problems, not America. Is the UK responsible for everything that happens in their former colonies?

How many teleprompters do you use?

You should talk about the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. I remember I was 4 watching the TV with my mom while that was happening.

Video starts at 1:36 :D

I was 14 when this happened. I think I'm ready now. Edit: I wasn't ready 😭

Called here in Haiti "the Goudougoudou".

This happened back when I was in grade 10

Skip ad @ 1:40.

Ayo Simon wtf toasts pop tarts?

The Haitian government intentionally doctored the casualty figures to 316,000 to obtain more donations from the international community. Observers state that the more accurate figure is 159,000

I thought I clicked on a Geographics video, but I think it was a Into The Shadows video instead

most of the buildings were not reinforced in the concrete

Gut wrenching

Thank god those foreing companies and corrupt haitian officials got relief money. A terrible disaster but good to hear that they are being helped to cope with it.

Don't blame the "richer" neighbours. Haiti is fully responsible for their poverty, and thus their susceptibility to natural disasters. Look at the Dominican Republic with whom they share an island. They are far wealthier. Haiti tolerated corrupt dictators and reap the rewards.

Wow it was deadlier than the Lisbon earthquake?

Love your videos, but I disagree that the 'world' is responsible to rebuild their country. A nation that doesn't learn, is irresponsible and is corrupt does not deserve this.

Ellora Caves

Where did all of that Clinton Foundation money that was supposed to go to Haiti go?

And yet no great rebuilding happened. Unbelievable.

So Haiti just being Haiti.

I used to be one of the retrofit guys in Los Angeles back in 2005. I can personally tell you even we aren't 100% sure our system works but it is better by about 84.5% to withstand a mag 9.4 by 2005 numbers, than not having one. Have a nice day 😈

The before and after pictures apparently didn't look much different.

Port Royale: we had the worst earthquake.

Was there ever a more benighted people?