Haiti was a very beautiful island but is now like a dead flower. Haiti covers a total area of 10,714 square miles, this area is slightly larger than the state of Maryland. Haiti is the second largest island in the Caribbean. The landscape has broad bands of tall mountain ranges with fertile lowland plains and lakes scattered in between them. Haiti’s location and features cause Haiti to have a higher likelihood of having natural disasters. Natural resources in Haiti are limited, most forests have been stripped, its aluminum industry has collapsed, and the search for oil has been unsuccessful. A few hundred years ago Haiti was covered with marshes and tropical rainforests. Haiti means “ mountainous land” in the language of the Taíno Arawak- the first inhabitants of the island. The climate in Haiti is hot and dry all year. As recently as the 1960s Haiti was a paradise for bird-lovers, but deforestation has destroyed the habitats of many of these species. ( Ng Cheong-Lum 5-16).
Haiti has been hit by many devastating natural disasters. In May 2004, 2 weeks of heavy rain caused extreme flooding. As much as 5 ft of rain fell in a day and a half. This rain washed away villages. The total death toll was 2,400. Apart reason for this high death toll was, there was a lack of trees which caused the land to have no natural wall against the rains. In September 2004, hurricane Jeanne hit a city named Gonaïves. This hurricane killed 3,000 people. The hurricane leveled a city prone to have floods. In the months of August and September of the year 2008, 4 fierce storms( Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike) destroyed 60% of the nation’s harvest. The storms killed 800 people, caused 8 billion dollars in damage, and caused some cities to be unlivable-all over 3 weeks. In January of 2010, an earthquake of magnitude 7 hit Port-au-Prince(the capital of Haiti). This earthquake destroyed a lot of the capital. The death toll was 300,000, and this earthquake dev...