Also known as: Haiti earthquake, January 12, 2010 earthquake, 2010 Haiti earthquake
Last updated: April 26, 2026
The January 12, 2010 earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, killing at least 220,000 people and displacing over 1.5 million. Scholars treat it not as a purely natural disaster but as a catastrophe magnified by Haiti's long historical vulnerability: indemnity debt, occupation, dictatorship, and externally imposed structural adjustment had eroded infrastructure and state capacity over generations. The post-earthquake reconstruction period deepened external management of Haiti through an NGO-centered aid economy that frequently bypassed Haitian institutions.
earthquake — addressed in *Create Dangerously* essays; shapes the post-earthquake cultural landscape she writes within
earthquake — post-earthquake cultural figure; Nobel nomination context
earthquake — Trouillot remained in Haiti; his post-earthquake civil society work and critique of the NGO republic
earthquake — the structural context of his election; post-earthquake politics produced him
earthquake — the defining catastrophe of his second term
earthquake — shapes the post-earthquake landscape of *Bain de lune* and *Douces déroutes*; Lahens remained in Haiti through the earthquake and its aftermath
The long-term rural impoverishment accelerated by pig eradication contributed to Haiti's vulnerability at the time of the 2010 earthquake
The reconstruction process was set in motion by the January 12, 2010 earthquake
The disruption of water and sanitation infrastructure contributed to the October 2010 cholera outbreak
The 2004 coup restructured Haiti's political landscape in ways that shaped the 2010 earthquake response
2010 Earthquake
Port-au-Prince was the epicenter of destruction
2010 Earthquake
The disaster exposed and deepened weaknesses in the Haitian state
2010 Earthquake
2010 Earthquake
Decades of structural adjustment had eroded the infrastructure that made Haiti so vulnerable
The earthquake's scale of destruction reflected structural violence built into Haiti's political economy
2010 Earthquake
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"2010 Earthquake." 2010. Rasin.ai, 2026. https://rasin.ai/connections/events/2010-earthquake. Accessed 2026-05-05.