On August 14th 2021, Haiti got hit with a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. This set off a reminder in some people’s heads about the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The 2010 earthquake was a 7.0 magnitude. With the current state of Haiti plus the damage from the 2010 earthquake, encouraging people to reach out to their friends who may have family in the Caribbean affected by the earthquake is very important. It is important to find ways to help not just people in the Caribbean, but comfort the Haitian/Caribbean students or staff of the school whose families were affected.

On January 10, 2010 Haiti was struck with a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. According to “2010 Haiti earthquake” by Richard Pallardy, the earthquake was soon followed by two aftershocks of a magnitude 5.9 and 5.5 and more during the following days. As a result of these events Haiti had many collapsed buildings. In attempts to help Haiti during their time of need $9.3 billion worth of aid was pledged. However, only a fraction of the funding made it over. Haitians are still recovering to this day.   

After the earthquake in August of 2021, thousands of Haitians migrated to the US and gathered in Del Rio, Texas. According to a CNN article “US immigration policies towards Hatians have long been racist, advocates say” by Harmeet Kaur, after migrating “they lived in squalid conditions in hopes of being processed by the US immigrations system.” Once immigration services heard about this they started planning deportation flights. Some Haitians were deported back without a chance to make a case. 

At a white house press briefing on September 24th, Alejandro Mayorkas explained that after studying the conditions in Haiti “we have in fact determined, despite the tragic and devastating earthquake, that Haiti is in fact capable of receiving individuals,” ignoring the fact that Haiti is not in the best conditions while still in recovery from an earthquake that occurred 11 years ago. 

US border patrols were seen on horseback and swinging long reins while trying to gather the Haitian migrants at the border. “The US government’s discriminatory treatment of Haitian migrants goes back decades,” a quote from US immigration policies towards Haitians have long been racist advocates say. After the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed, Haitians began coming to the US in larger groups.

According to an article from The Washington Post “Haiti was devastated by a quake that killed more than 2,000 people. Here’s how you can help” by María Luisa Paúl, Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port-au-Prince partnered with Project Medishare to organize a GoFundMe to help victims. A CNN article “How to help Haiti earthquake victims” by Mayra Cuevas also provided readers with a donation link which can be found below.

Donation links:

• Fundraiser by .Jennifer Bitar : Haiti Earthquake Relief
• Haiti Earthquake Relief