Haiti Needs an Overhaul, and Americans Can Serve as Guides
Efforts to prepare for natural disaster in the Caribbean in Haiti, in particular, have been under way for several years. Disaster reduction conferences have resulted in action plans. Model building codes for seismic and wind engineering have been updated and disseminated. But in Haiti, the combined “disasters” of historic poverty and political instability clearly undermined all the good intentions of the reformers, led by the Association of Caribbean States.
Tragedies such as the one in Haiti have played out time and again across the planet. But this one is different in the eyes of Americans: It is on our doorstep.