Hi everyone! To start off the week, let’s look at Haiti! Unfortunately, the usual IQAir website I refer to does not have any air quality data contributors. It might be due to the fact that Haiti is a relatively underdeveloped and understudied area. Regardless, data from IAMAT shows that the air quality is unsafe, because the PM2.5 concentration is 15 micrograms/cubic metre, which exceeds the recommended maximum of 10 micrograms/cubic metre. If you think of Haiti, I am sure you would think of the natural disasters that happened long ago. How do such events relate to pollution in Haiti?
Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake on the 12th of January in 2010. The 7.0Mw earthquake exacerbated many of the current problems in the country. One of which is water pollution. Haiti has been struggling with sanitation problems for years. Its beaches are filled with trash its waterways are smelly, filled with swarms of dead fish and floating debris. The earthquake only worsened the conditions of water sources.
Water pollution is still a problem, because Haiti experiences frequent hurricanes. Hurricanes contribute to coastal flooding, and in Haiti where coasts are filled with rubbish, water pollution seems like an incessant threat that cannot be fought. Some of you might think, “Why can’t they just pick up the rubbish themselves, or throw rubbish in appropriate areas?” Locals have shared that they cannot simply do so because they need to use any time they have to earn money, because they are poor. They also cannot move elsewhere, because it is equally polluted elsewhere in the country. Its government is too occupied dealing with recovering its economy, that environmental issues get set aside.
Locals also do not have proper kitchens to cook. Just like the natives in Fiji, many households depend on indoor cooking, which worsens air pollution risks. The image below shows how some mothers cook for their family. These rudimentary stoves cause smoke to be concentrated in a tight area. Mothers can suffer from eye and respiratory issues because of the harmful chemicals, particulate matters, and carcinogens released from the burning of charcoal to cook.
If you click on the link which directs you to where this image was from, and scroll down to the end of the article, you will read about initiatives from the grassroots. Some people have suggested households to utilize ethanol-based fuel rather than charcoal to reduce mothers’ exposures from cooking using open fires. But how effective have such initiatives been? In the next post of the week, I will be looking at 2 research papers on Haiti.
See you in the next one! ✿
References
Dover, F. (2010) Haiti’s Legacy of Environmental Devastation Compounded by Earthquake. 1 March. Scientific American. Available from: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talk-haitis-legacy/ [Accessed: 14 February 2022].
Herlinger, C. (2018) Environmental Vulnerabilities are Linked to Every Other Problem in Haiti. 19 April. Available from: https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/environmental-vulnerabilities-are-linked-every-other-problem-haiti [Accessed: 14 February 2022].
IAMAT (2020) Haiti General Health Risks: Air Pollution. 16 April. Available from: https://www.iamat.org/country/haiti/risk/air-pollution#:~:text=In%20accordance%20with%20the%20World,maximum%20of%2010%20%C2%B5g%2Fm3. [Accessed: 14 February 2022].
IQAir (2022) Air Quality in Haiti. 14 February. Available from: https://www.iqair.com/haiti [Accessed: 14 February 2022].
Mount Sinai (2019) Indoor Cooking and Air Pollution Risks in Homes in Haiti and Around the World. 27 September. Available from: https://health.mountsinai.org/blog/indoor-cooking-and-air-pollution-risks-in-homes-in-haiti-and-around-the-world/ [Accessed: 14 February 2022].