2010 Haiti Earthquake & Cholera Outbreak

On the topic of natural disasters, the Tonga volcanic eruption is far from the only natural disaster that led to the contamination of drinking water. In fact, the biggest concern after every natural disaster is providing safe and accessible water supplies for all that were affected. The 2010 Haiti earthquake was no exception.

Prior to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Haitians were already experiencing issues of water scarcity. According to Sentlinger (n.d.), “only 55.2 percent of the population has access to an improved water source, while close to 70 percent does not have direct access to potable water” (p. 1). With the massive earthquake in 2010, this was exacerbated drastically. Rating a 7.0 on the Richter scale, the 2010 Haiti earthquake damaged both water and sanitation systems. Wells, a major source of drinking water for Haitians, were damaged alongside ruptured underground water and sanitation pipes, leading to the contamination of drinking water sources. With the extensive damage to water infrastructure, the Artibonite River, the longest river in Haiti, played an even more central role as a water supply for both drinking and non-drinking purposes.

Video on the cholera epidemic in Haiti (Al Jazeera, 2010)

In October 2010, months after the earthquake, UN peacekeeping troops from Nepal were brought into Haiti as part of the UN’s troop rotation practice and to help with disaster relief. Yet, the Nepalese soldiers carried the Vibrio cholerae bacteria circulating in Nepal and unintentionally brought it into Haiti as contaminated sewage from the UN camp leaked into the Artibonite River. The Vibrio cholerae bacteria entered the Artibonite River approximately 100km upstream (Knox, 2012) but quickly spread and contaminated the entire water supply, “killing 10,000 people and making 800,000 more sick” (Brand, 2018, p. 10). The severity of the cholera outbreak was magnified by the reliance on the Artibonite River, the lack of water and sanitation services, and the lack of immunity against the cholerae bacteria amongst Haitians (Gelting et al., 2013).

The cholera outbreak continued for years to come, with the transmission of the cholerae bacteria persisting till early 2019. For six years, the UN denied claims of the Nepalese peacekeeper troops bringing the virus into Haiti, shirking all responsibilities. It was only in December of 2016 that the UN came clean on the peacekeepers’ role in the cholera outbreak in Haiti, highlighting the issue of accountability in polluting activities.

References

Al Jazeera. (2010, October 25). Inside Story—Haiti’s cholera epidemic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgsytOBtqKA

Brand, D. (2018, January 27). 8 Years After Haiti Earthquake, Millions Struggle To Find Water. Global Citizen. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/haiti-water-sanitation-wash-crisis-earthquake/

Gelting, R., Bliss, K., Patrick, M., Lockhart, G., & Handzel, T. (2013). Water, sanitation and hygiene in Haiti: Past, present, and future. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 89(4), 665–670. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.13-0217

Knox, R. (2012, April 12). Water in the time of cholera: Haiti’s most urgent health problem. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/04/13/150302830/water-in-the-time-of-cholera-haitis-most-urgent-health-problem

Sentlinger, K. (n.d.). Water In Crisis. The Water Project. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://thewaterproject.org/water-crisis/water-in-crisis-haiti