The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in Port-au-Prince is one of thousands of buildings which collapsed during the earthquake of 2010, becoming a deathtrap for those unfortunate to be inside during the cataclysm. Haiti’s proximity to major geological fault lines, a lack of building codes, the use of shoddy construction materials, and a high urban population density conspired to make this one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent memory. Between 100 000 and 160 000 people were killed and over a million more made homeless by the devastation of the country’s infrastructure. To put this in perspective, six weeks later an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile, killing less than 1000 people despite being 500 times more powerful than the seismic event in Haiti.
P.Dandenault
