Tag archives for Haiti
Posted by On January 12, 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Haiti. In the year following the devastating quake, there has been slow progress in rebuilding the country. With international help (including help from you!), some of the debris has been cleaned up and some buildings have been rebuilt, but lots of rubble still remains. There have been other problems, like a cholera epidemic that has sickened thousands of people. Cholera spreads in areas with bad sanitary conditions, and the earthquake made Haiti’s sanitation worse.
Why has recovery been so slow? One big reason is that Haiti doesn’t have a stable political environment, which makes cleanup efforts difficult. “So what’s going on is what we used to call stovepipe reconstruction, where certain areas and types of structures are being reconstructed or built anew but there is no overall plan. Because, among other things, it’s really unclear if there is a Haitian government at this point,” says Richard Olson of Florida International University and director of the Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas program.
Read more about the state Haiti is in on the anniversary of the earthquake on National Geographic News.
Read about the earthquake on the News Bites blog.
Read about how you helped Haiti by sending in donations on the News Bites blog.
Get facts about Haiti on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Eduardo Munoz, Reuters
Congratulations! After the earthquake caused massive destruction in Haiti, you came through with $13,400 in donations! Your donations to the global health organization PSI helped save lives by providing more than 2,200 Haitian families with clean drinking water for a year. That’s amazing. And it shows that kids really can make a difference by working together!
Read about the earthquake in Haiti.
To learn more about Haiti, visit the country profile on National Geographic Kids.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Anacaona
AUTHOR: Edwidge Danticat
The Royal Diaries is a series about different kinds of royalty from all around the world and different periods of time. In keeping with its theme, it is written in the style of a diary. The series is written by a variety of authors who are subject matter experts. So, they write about time periods they know best. What’s also interesting about this series is that at the end of each book there are pictures and drawings of that particular time period.
This part of the series is based on a real story about a girl who is a “supreme chief” in waiting. The girl’s name is Anacaona, which means “golden flower” in the Taino language and she lives in Haiti in the late 1400s. Can you guess the famous person mentioned at the end of this story? If you guessed Christopher Columbus, you’re right! But this time he’s not a hero explorer looking for new lands, he’s an enemy of the native people and is greedily searching for gold.
In the book, Anacaona has to make a big decision–stay in her land and rule her people, or go to a new land so she may marry the man she loves. But that’s not all there is to the story. In fact, you’ll never look at Christopher Columbus the same way again. This book is both educational and an exciting read with extraordinary details and historical settings. You’ll learn something and be entertained along the way. Enjoy!
On January 12, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake, causing widespread devastation. The earthquake’s epicenter was about 10 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city. The International Red Cross estimates that a third of Haiti’s citizens will need emergency aid.
The quake destroyed houses, schools, hospitals, and even the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. The city is currently without electricity or phone service.
Find out more about the Haiti earthquake on National Geographic News.
Find out how you can help on the American Red Cross website.
Learn more about earthquakes on nationalgeographic.com.
Learn more about Haiti on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images
