One Of The Poorest And Least Developed Countries In The World

One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, Haiti in recent years has struggled with problems ranging from near-constant political upheaval, health crises, an annual barrage of hurricanes and the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years.

The quake that struck on Jan. 12, 2010, reduced much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, to rubble. A study by the Inter-American Development Bank estimated that the total cost of the disaster was between $8 billion and $14 billion, based on a death toll from 200,000 to 250,000. That number was revised in 2011 by Haiti’s government to 316,000; the government has never explained how it arrived at its death toll figures.

An estimated 634,000 people live in displacement camps, according to the International Organization for Migration. International donors promised Haiti $5.3 billion at a March 2010 donor’s conference. But reconstruction involving better buildings and roads has barely begun. Officials’ sole point of pride six months after the earthquake — that disease and violence had been averted — vanished with the outbreak of cholera.

More than a year after the disaster, there were signs of impatience with the limping recovery and the waning international sympathy for Haiti’s enduring troubles as the neighboring Dominican Republic began deporting refugees. Haiti and its international donors were far behind in helping the hundreds of thousands still living in makeshift camps and the millions without formal jobs.

In March 2011, two conservative rivals faced off in a runoff election for the presidency. In April, it was announced that Michel Martelly, a performer with the stage name Sweet Micky, had defeated Mirlande H. Manigat, a former first lady and college administrator