Haiti Earthquake Research Paper

Waking up on the side of the road, an individual realizes that there is only enough money to buy a sandwich for the entire day, no shelter for the night, and no job for financial support. This atrocious situation is known as poverty. Poverty can be explained as people going through an economic crisis, where they lack enough money to be able to obtain health services, food, clothing, housing, and education that is required to ensure a sufficient standard of living. This has become a major problem in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Although the causes of poverty in Haiti are complex, some major factors are corruption and natural disasters. An additional social/cultural factor could be lack of education. Over the years,

The effects of the earthquake in Haiti in 2005 has proven to be devastating and negatively impacted the country. Natural disasters can lead to environmental problems such as shortage of food, shelter, and other resources essential for survival. It has caused destruction on people’s homes, lands, and buildings. Due to low income, people’s homes were not properly built to avoid damage to their building, therefore this lead to people living on the streets. There is an estimated amount of 380,000 children homeless and uneducated prior to the earthquake and an additional thousand that is untold of. One tragedy has led to the destruction of a family and their

A low level system of education contributes to poverty. Low education levels discourage new investments and a future for the country while poverty continues. Many children in Haiti were uneducated and out of school, since majority of the schools in Haiti were private. These institutions were very diverse and were owned by religious groups, non-governmental organizations, or for-profit foundations. Being privately owned, these schools usually require tuition fees. Only half of the children residing in Haiti are able to afford and receive an education, while the rest have only completed till elementary school. As a result, half of the citizens of Haiti were illiterate. “If the failure to provide security deprives Haitians of the environment in which material advance is possible, the failure to educate deprives the population of the tools by which to achieve such advance.” (Eberstadt) Without a proper education and knowledge, the people of Haiti are unable to break free of the cycle of poverty leading to first world