PORT-AU-PRINCE—Haiti’s recent earthquake is the most destructive natural disaster that a single country has experienced, by some measures, and may have caused as much as $13.2 billion in damage, according to a study released Tuesday by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The quake killed an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 people, claiming more lives as a percentage of a country’s population than any recorded disaster, said the study by three economists affiliated with the IADB, the regional arm of the World Bank.
“While the ballpark estimates of the number of people killed or missing are similar to the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, the population of Haiti is only a small fraction of the one of the Asian country, making this particular event more damaging than that infamous tsunami,” the study said.
“It is the most destructive event a country has ever experienced when measured in terms of the number of people killed as a share of the country’s population and affected the capital city of the country: the center of commerce, government and communication,” it said.
The study tried to estimate the damage by comparing it to damage from past natural disasters. Using the official Haitian government death toll of 230,000 dead led to a damage estimate of $7.7 billion, with a range between $4.4 billion and $13.2 billion. The authors said the damages could be in the upper range of the estimate.
Ten years after the disaster, Haiti’s economic output is likely to be roughly 30% lower than it otherwise would have been, according to the study.
“This is the case even given significant increases in aid flows that tend to occur after a major disaster,” the study said. While aid can help, “this does underline the challenge ahead for Haiti and for the international community attempting to support the country.”
Before Haiti begins rebuilding, there are major problems to solve, especially regarding the estimated 300,000 families—more than a million people—whose homes were destroyed by the quake and who are now living in the streets. Haiti’s new homeless join an estimated 600,000 families that were already living without permanent housing, according to the Haitian government.
“Shelter is a huge issue. Nothing really compares, I think, in terms of a monumental challenge for right now and for the coming weeks before the rainy season and months before the hurricane season,” said Lewis Lucke, the U.S. special coordinator for relief and reconstruction in Haiti.
On most days, Haitians living on the streets look to the skies with anxiety, hoping storm clouds don’t build. Earlier this week, a thunderstorm caused widespread panic among families sleeping outside.
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