On January 12th, 2010, a powerful earthquake measuring a magnitude 7.0 on the Richter Scale struck the island nation of Haiti. The weak infrastructure of the country, which is ranked as the poorest in Latin America, could not sustain the impact of the quake and much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as surrounding areas such as Jacmel and Carrefour, fell into rubble.

According to the Haiti government, 222,570 people died, over 300,000 were injured and some 2.3 million people were displaced. Furthermore, it is estimated that the total value of damage and losses equals $7.8 billion USD.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that there 1.5 million people are currently living in 122 registered camps and hundreds of spontaneous settlement sites in and around the affected areas. Close to 700,000 people have also migrated out of the affected areas and are living with host families.

Most schools, hospitals and other government buildings were either destroyed or damaged, incapacitating the country’s ability to respond.

Estimates range between five and 20 years for Haiti to be fully rebuilt.