HISTORIC ARTICLE

Jan 12, 2010 CE: Earthquake Devastates Haiti

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti. More than 100,000 people died and even more were left homeless.

Grades

5 - 8

Subjects

Earth Science

‌

‌
‌
‌

‌
‌
‌
‌
‌
‌
‌
‌
‌
‌

Loading ...

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake struck near the town of Legoane, Haiti. The earthquake devastated the tiny Caribbean nation, causing more than 100,000 deaths and displacing a million people. Poor infrastructure is sometimes blamed for the catastrophic impact. Thousands were killed when buildings in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince collapsed. A small, localized tsunami also tore through many buildings on the coast. Years later, thousands of Haitians remain homeless, living in “tent cities” in Port-au-Prince. The Haitian government, the World Bank, and many international organizations are working to help these internally displaced persons access clean water, food, schools, and employment.

Credits

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Writer

National Geographic Society

Producer

National Geographic Society

other

Last Updated

October 19, 2023

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.