Haiti is now on everyone’s lips since a devastating earthquake on January 12 laid waste a huge part of the capital Port au Prince. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas (PCI USD 790). Decades of poor governance, dictators, hurricanes have all contributed to the country’s desperate status. The country is at the same latitude as northern Luzon. And like the Philippines is in the path of tropical cyclones and is earthquake prone.

If the Philippines, is Asia’s first republic,  Haiti is the first independent republic in the Caribbean declaring its freedom from France in 1802 as a result of a successful slave rebellion. However republican ideals  inspired by the French Revolution died quickly when the republic’s leaders proclaimed themselves emperor or dictators for life.  Since then the country has been subject to political instability with 32 coup d’ etats.  The US occupied the country from 1915 to 1934. French and American intervention in the past remains in the nation’s consciousness. The UN keeps the peace in the country. There is a battalion sized Philippine contingent here.

Haiti’s dictator Jean Claude “baby doc” Duvalier was kicked out at about the same time as the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. In 1992 the first democratic elections were held putting the former Catholic priest Jean Bertrand Aristide into power.

Ninety-five percent of Haitians are of African descent, most the descendants of freed slaves. The original Taino inhabitants have largely been extirpated by colonial policy and the diseases the Europeans brought. The population is around 11 million. The population density is 306 per sq km. (the Philippines has 361 per sq km). Thus this disaster prone country is 44th in terms of population density. The Philippines is at 31st

Widespread poverty has contributed to widespread deforestation. In the 1920s Haiti had 60% forest cover. In 2010 it had >2%. It is mountainous in the interior. Loss of precious topsoil reduced crop productivity, worsening the chronic food security problem. This also is the major factor in the recent devastating floods that hit the country in the last 2 years. Haiti’s environment has been so degraded that large tracts of land have been made unsuitable for productive agriculture. Haiti’s food requirements is largely dependent on foreign aid.

Haiti is a textbook example of how a modern nation state can collapse due to a degraded environment which breeds further political instability. Geographers are trying to make sense why the country is in such dire straits while across the border, the Dominican Republic, the country that shares with Haiti the island of Hispaniola, is relatively prosperous with a PCI of USD 8672, more than 10 times that of Haiti. The Dominican Republic is classified by the US State Department as a middle income developing economy, the largest in the Caribbean.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are compared in Jared Diamond’s “Collapse“. Both Haiti and the Dominican Republic had oppressive dictatorial and corrupt regimes. Diamond explores the consequences of the two countries’ shared histories.

While the Philippines is not as poor as Haiti (we have a PCI of USD 3515), the environmental determinants of the Philippines are similar to that for Haiti. The Philippines is showing some signs of environmental collapse.  The signs are a recurring lack of water, an increasing population, soil loss and declining agricultural productivity. The socio-political conditions remain largely unchanged with notable income disparity and corrupt governance . How the Philippine constitutional system of government can deal with these problems will dominate the political stage for the next Presidency. The Ondoy disaster last September gave as a preview of how functional or dysfunctional our government units are. Some LGUs are to be lauded and some are to be shamed. It also showed how non-governmental groups can be more effective in disaster response.

And now comes the deadly Jan 12, 2010 earthquake. The buildings and houses in Haiti look so much like what Filipinos have in the provinces. A similar temblor would result in the same or if not, worse damage to the Philippines.

And the official line of the Philippine government says such cannot happen in the Philippines. The Philippines in a lot of ways is Haiti. On the environmental side, each and every earthquake prone Philippine island is a Haiti.

We have to take a close look at Haiti as we send our assistance for we may be gazing into our future.

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