Haiti Is Not Katrina Custom

Haiti Is Not Katrina

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Kathleen Tierney, the author of "Haiti is not Katrina," is a professor of sociology and behavioral science director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Many media outlets have made comparisons between Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti. Tierney, however, draws attention to a number of distinct differences between the two natural disasters and suggests that they are not as similar as the media suggests.

To give readers an idea of the scope of the disaster, Tierney expresses the situation in Haiti by comparing it to a similar but imaginary event in the United States. She urges her readers to imagine the scenario if "all of the U.S. west of the Mississippi was extensively damaged by some immense catastrophe in one minute, with absolutely no warning." She indicates that this is the situation currently faced by Haiti. She then compares the situation in Haiti to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and notes that although Hurricane Katrina was devastating, it was a regional disaster, whereas the damage in Haiti is on a national level. The earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Katrina differ from one another in the scope of the destruction.

Katrina was not as disastrous as the earthquake in Haiti because the national structure was left intact and federal government buildings were not affected. In Haiti, however, the capital city of Port-au-Prince was severely damaged. Thirty percent of Haiti's population is concentrated in Port-au-Prince. Consequently, a third of the Haiti's population was killed, wounded, or lost their homes or means of livelihood. In addition, although the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina caused problems in the national supply chain, it did not demolish the basic social structure. In Haiti, even the hospitals, clinics and the UN headquarters are unable to function. Katrina and Haiti are different in that the nation's infrastructure was not destroyed during the hurricane, whereas the infrastructure of Haiti will take years to rebuild.

Tierney draws another comparison between Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti by describing the people who were most affected by the disasters. She claims that Katrina affected people who were least able to help themselves, such as the poor and the disabled, but many people were able to escape. Haiti, however, is one of the poorest nations in the world. The majority of the population lives in chronic poverty. Katrina affected the only the most vulnerable segments of the Gulf Coast population, but in Haiti the entire population is vulnerable.

Haiti is different from the Gulf Coast in that the island nation ranks very low in health, levels of education, and household income. Unlike the United States, the nation of Haiti had a great deal of difficulty providing even the most basic services for its people before the disaster. The political system of the United States is relatively stable, but Haiti has suffered from "dictators, political coup and savage violence" for a long time. The disaster in Haiti is different from the catastrophe seen on the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina in that the people are less educated, have few available services, and have a long history of political instability. All of these factors create significant differences between the two disasters.