Haiti in Pictures: Five Years On

Photographer Johan Hallberg-Campbell captures rebuilding efforts since a devastating earthquake hit on Jan. 12, 2010.

By: /
12 January, 2015
By: OpenCanada Staff

Is it difficult to remember the images that poured out of Haiti after a 7.0-magnitutde earthquake struck the country five years ago today on Jan. 12, 2010? Whole buildings folded onto themselves, roads broke apart, hospitals, schools and homes were destroyed. An estimated 200-300,000 were killed, and more than 1.5 million made homeless. Aid workers and journalists rushed to help and report, but many described a chaotic scene upon arrival with supplies scarce and travel by road nearly impossible.

The world was watching then. But what has happened in the five years since? In a message on Monday’s anniversary, the Organization for American States (OAS) said “94 percent of households displaced as a result of the earthquake have been relocated,” and that there is much to celebrate in terms of the reconstruction, economic growth and creation of jobs. Meanwhile, the BBC reports a slow recovery with 80,000 still living in tent camps and tensions over delayed elections. CBC News describes remembrance ceremonies alongside protests.

The earthquake prompted the Red Cross’ largest single-country response in its history. The Canadian Red Cross continues its work there, including a large-scale shelter project and reconstruction of local hospitals.

Photographer Johan Hallberg-Campbell was recently in Haiti to document those efforts. His photo essay, Haiti five years on: An Fòm!, is on exhibit in Toronto at various locations including Toronto City Hall until Jan. 16 and in Vancouver at the Royal Centre until Jan. 31. It is also available online. Some of the photographs included in that exhibit are seen here, below.

Nippes region of Haiti, where the Canadian and Haitian Red Cross work together on disaster risk reduction, health and violence prevention.

Haiti-2
Genise Pierre-Louis receives a water filter in Cayes-Jacmel, Haiti.
Haiti-3
Rebuilding a Jacmel hospital that was damaged during the earthquake.
Haiti-4
One of 7,500 homes built by the Canadian Red Cross for families around the Jacmel and Leogane regions of Haiti.
Haiti-5
Amarante Macius brings her young son to a community health centre in Jacmel, Haiti, one of four centres rehabilitated or built by the Canadian Red Cross.
Haiti-6
A newly constructed bridge in the Anse-à-Veau region.
Haiti-7
Students at École Bon Berger de Baconnois in Anse-à-Veau learn about violence and abuse prevention.
haiti-8
Marigot, Jacmel, where the Canadian Red Cross is building homes, part of their effort to provide 19,000 shelter solutions in the country.
Students learn how to manage disaster risks through an educational game called Té Male in Jacmel, Haiti.
Students learn how to manage disaster risks through an educational game called Té Male in Jacmel, Haiti.
haiti-10
A shelter home in Jacmel, Haiti.

Before you click away, we’d like to ask you for a favour … 

 

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

At Open Canada, we believe this must change. If anything, the pandemic has taught us we can’t afford to ignore the changing world. What’s more, we believe, most Canadians don’t want to. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world.

Our mission is to build a conversation that involves everyone — not just politicians, academics and policy makers. We need your help to do so. Your support helps us find stories and pay writers to tell them. It helps us grow that conversation. It helps us encourage more Canadians to play an active role in shaping our country’s place in the world.

Become a Supporter