What was the humanitarian situation in Haiti like prior to the earthquake?
Haiti has already suffered from previous humanitarian crises and natural disasters, including a series of hurricanes that battered the country in 2008. This has been the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Haiti along this fault line. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and ranks 154th on the United Nations Human Development Index. In 2008, Haiti was devastated by four major hurricanes/tropical storms: Faye, Gustav, Hanna and Ike, which wreaked havoc on physical and agricultural infrastructure. The storms killed almost 450 people, affected a million residents and left more than 150,000 living in shelters. Haiti is in the group of 10 countries with lowest diphtheria toxoid, tetanus toxoid and pertussis vaccine (DTP3) coverage: 53% (2008) according to WHO/UNICEF estimates.
