Catastrophe in the Caribbean

摘要

If there is one country in the Americas that cannot afford to suffer a natural disaster, it is dirt-poor and politically fragile Haiti. In 2008 four tropical storms killed 800 people, left 1m of the 9m population homeless and wiped out 15% of the economy. But the earthquake that devastated the country, including Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, just before 5.00pm on January 12th was a yet crueller blow.