2010 Haiti earthquake

==Casualties==
{{Main|Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake}}
[[File:Boy receiving treatment after Haiti earthquake.jpg|thumb|right|A Haitian boy receives treatment at a MINUSTAH logistics base.]]

[[File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - IDF Coordination with American Doctor (1).jpg|thumb|Israeli and U.S. medical personnel coordinate relief efforts.]]
The earthquake struck in the most populated area of the country. The [[IFRC|International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies]] estimated that as many as 3&nbsp;million people had been affected by the quake.<ref name="cbsnews1"/> In mid February 2010, the Haitian government reported the death toll to have reached 230,000.<ref name=autogenerated4>{{cite news|title=Haiti quake death toll rises to 230,000|date=10 February 2010|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8507531.stm| access-date= 26 April 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110511074335/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8507531.stm| archive-date= 11 May 2011| url-status= live}}</ref> However, an investigation by Radio Netherlands has questioned the official death toll, reporting an estimate of 92,000 deaths as being a more realistic figure.<ref name="RNW">{{cite web|last=Melissen |first=Hans Jaap |title=Haiti quake death toll well under 100,000 |publisher=[[Radio Netherlands Worldwide]] |date=23 February 2010 |url=http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/haiti-quake-death-toll-well-under-100000 |access-date=28 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330060926/http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/haiti-quake-death-toll-well-under-100000 |archive-date=30 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On the first anniversary of the earthquake, 12 January 2011, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the death toll from the quake was more than 316,000, raising the figures from previous estimates.<ref name=deathtoll>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/haiti-raises-quake-death-toll-on-anniversary-1.1011363 Haiti raises quake death toll on anniversary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625135103/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/haiti-raises-quake-death-toll-on-anniversary-1.1011363 |date=25 June 2020 }} CBC News, 12 January 2011</ref>

Several experts have questioned the validity of the death toll numbers; Anthony Penna, [[professor emeritus]] in [[environmental history]] at [[Northeastern University]], warned that casualty estimates could only be a "[[guesstimate]]",<ref name=time116>{{cite magazine|last1=Fletcher |first1=Dan |title=Are the Death Estimates Accurate? |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1954342,00.html |date=16 January 2010 |access-date=26 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604062357/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0%2C28804%2C1953379_1953494_1954342%2C00.html |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Belgian disaster response expert Claude de Ville de Goyet noted that "[[round number]]s are a sure sign that nobody knows."<ref name=nyt120>{{cite news|first1=Simon|last1=Romero|author-link=Simon Romero|first2=Neil|last2=MacFarquhar|author-link2=Neil MacFarquhar|title=Haiti's Many Troubles Keep Bodies Uncounted|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/world/americas/21deathtoll.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=20 January 2010|access-date=20 January 2010|archive-date=21 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121042124/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/world/americas/21deathtoll.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Edmond Mulet]], UN [[Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations|Assistant Secretary-General]] for [[DPKO|Peacekeeping Operations]], said, "I do not think we will ever know what the death toll is from this earthquake",<ref name=nyt120/> while the director of the Haitian Red Cross, Jean-Pierre Guiteau, noted that his organization had not had the time to count bodies, as their focus had been on the treatment of survivors.<ref name=nyt120/>

While the vast majority of casualties were Haitian civilians, the dead included aid workers, embassy staff, foreign tourists—and a number of public figures, including [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince|Archbishop of Port-au-Prince]] Monsignor [[Joseph Serge Miot]],<ref name="apny201013"/> aid worker [[Zilda Arns]] and officials in the Haitian government, including opposition leader [[Micha Gaillard|Michel "Micha" Gaillard]].<ref name="yahoo1"/> Also killed were a number of well-known [[Music of Haiti|Haitian musicians]]<ref name=clinacoo115>{{cite news|url=http://www.clicanoo.com/index.php?id_article=233717&page=article |title=Haïti: Un silence assourdissant |language=fr |access-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124012203/http://www.clicanoo.com/index.php?page=article&id_article=233717 |archive-date=24 January 2010 }}</ref> and sports figures, including thirty members of the [[Fédération Haïtienne de Football]].<ref name=jo119>{{cite news|title=Haitian Football Federation says 30 dead |first=Sean A. |last=Williams |url=http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/HAITI-VISIT_7336253 |newspaper=[[Jamaica Observer]] |access-date=19 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125184926/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/HAITI-VISIT_7336253 |archive-date=25 January 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> At least 85 United Nations personnel working with MINUSTAH were killed,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8486991.stm Haiti recovery 'to take decades'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131111350/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8486991.stm |date=31 January 2010 }} BBC News, 29 January 2010</ref> among them the Mission Chief, [[Hédi Annabi]], his deputy, [[Luiz Carlos da Costa]],<ref name="bbc16012010" /> and police commissioner Douglas Coates. Around 200 guests were killed in the collapse of the [[Hôtel Montana]] in Port-au-Prince.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582937,00.html |title=Florida College Scrambles for Information on Students in Haiti |publisher=Fox News |date=13 January 2010 |access-date=15 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116160553/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C582937%2C00.html |archive-date=16 January 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On 31 May 2011, an unreleased draft report based on a survey commissioned by the [[US Agency for International Development]] (USAID) challenged the Haiti earthquake death toll and several damage estimates. The unpublished report put the death toll between 46,000 and 85,000 and put the number of displaced persons at 895,000, of which only 375,000 remained in temporary shelters. The unreleased report, which compiled its figures from a door-to-door survey, was done by a Washington consulting firm, LTL Strategies. A US State Department spokesperson said the report had inconsistencies and would not be released until they were resolved.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13606720 |title=Report challenges Haiti earthquake death toll |date=31 May 2011 |publisher=BBC  |access-date=31 May 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110601112733/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13606720| archive-date= 1 June 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> As of January 2012, USAID has not released the report and states on its website that 1.5 million people were displaced, of which 550,000 remain without permanent shelter.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://haiti.usaid.gov/issues/docs/121911_shelter_fact_sheet.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=11 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123170010/http://haiti.usaid.gov/issues/docs/121911_shelter_fact_sheet.pdf |archive-date=23 January 2013  }}</ref> The most reliable academic estimate of the number of earthquake casualties in Haiti (over 95% were in the immediate Port-au-Prince area) "within six weeks of the earthquake" appears to be the 160,000 estimate in a 2010 University of Michigan study.<ref name="Michigan"/>