Today, We’re All Haitians

January 13, 2010, 8:54 am

Today, We’re All Haitians

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

After 9/11, the French newspaper Le Monde declared: We Are All Americans. And after yesterday’s earthquake: Today, we are all Haitians. No country seems to have had worse luck with misrule, environmental mismanagement, natural disasters and poor governance than Haiti. And now the earthquake.

Poverty always hugely magnifies natural disasters. I saw this first in the terrible 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh that killed more than 100,000 people. The poorest people lived in marginal areas, such as flood plains, and in flimsy huts that were immediately washed away. So they were killed. Those who were better off lived on firmer land in sturdier homes, and after the disaster they were able to afford clean water and medical care for their children. Frequently what kills people in these disasters isn’t just nature but its interconnection with poverty, and in Haiti it’s imperative to arrange not only the earthquake response — digging people out of rubble — but also a public health response by controlling disease and assuring access to clean water for survivors.

I don’t know Haiti well, but I was struck during a visit last year how the country was already suffering from the hurricane aftermath and the global economic crisis (largely because of a drop in remittances). This earthquake is one more disaster piled on so many other misfortunes; my heart goes out to Haitians everywhere. I’m sure some of you readers know Haiti far better: What are your thoughts on the crisis, on what must be done, and on how people can help?