by Laura Banfield and Ariel Lebowitz

On January 25, 2010, the headline of The Onion, an American satirical weekly, read “Massive Earthquake Reveals Entire Island Civilization Called ‘Haiti.’” Unfortunately, this is funny because it is almost true. Many people in North America had never given any consideration to the poorest nation in the western hemisphere until a 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, made it impossible to ignore it any longer. Haiti’s government has reported more than 200,000 people were killed, a greater number injured, and around 1.5 million were left homeless. Homes, schools, and hospitals collapsed. Even the presidential palace and parliament were destroyed.