The epicenter was just 16 miles west of Port-au-Prince, the island nation’s bustling capital. “A few months ago there was an earthquake in the north of the country. The government, says Ms. Boutaud de la Combe, is now much better prepared for similar natural disasters. B y January 2019, nine years after the earthquake, USAid had spent $2.3bn in Haiti. To learn more about USAID’s Hurricane Matthew response and recovery efforts, click here. You can watch for yourself via UN webcast Most of it was given to American companies and hardly any passed through Haitian hands. Some nine years after the earthquake, the situation in Haiti is very different.
Recorded as Haiti’s most devastating natural disaster in recent history, an earthquake on January 12, 2010, killed an estimated 230,000 people, injured 300,000 more, and displaced more than 1.5 million as a result of collapsed buildings and infrastructure.

Men look at protesters marching to demand an investigation into what they say is the alleged misuse of Venezuela-sponsored PetroCaribe funds, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, November 18, 2018.

The top UN official in Haiti traveled to UN headquarters for the first time in eight weeks and briefed the press on Haiti recovery efforts. Challenge. Eight years ago, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake upended life in Haiti, killing more than 300,000 people by some estimates and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes. In addition to the earthquake response and long-term development activities, USAID has provided assistance to help Haiti recover from other natural disasters, such as hurricanes and droughts. Here are some (paraphrased) highlights from the briefing. On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti with a vengeance. Estimates of the death toll vary, but between 220,000 and 316,000 people were killed by the disaster, and 300,000 more people were injured.