BJ BODNAR
Opinions Writer

Sixty per cent of the Haitian public have no access to even basic health care services. Nearly half of the children in Haiti are unvaccinated, and close to 90 per cent suffer from water-borne diseases and intestinal parasites. Haiti also has the highest rates of cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in either of the Americas. The infant mortality rate in Haiti is the highest of any country in the western hemisphere.

In addition to the health care statistics, consider some of these realities. Haiti is the poorest country (demographically speaking) in both of the Americas. The average Haitian lives on less than $2 per day, and 80 per cent of the country lives in severely impoverished conditions. The illiteracy rate in Haiti is approaching 50 per cent, and roughly half of the Haitian population is under the age of 20.

The truly appalling and saddening part however, is that all of these statistics were taken from reports completed prior to January 2010 — before the earthquake. They give insight into why the earthquake was so devastating in the first place, and why the ongoing crisis continues to deepen.

The sad truth is that for some Haitians, there is little disparity between life before and after the earthquake. Health care is unavailable, diseases remain untreated, food is scarce, water is dirty and education is a distant thought. In many senses, there is nothing new about this reality.

Within the first weeks after the earthquake struck on Jan. 12, 2010, celebrities of all shapes and forms took their turn with Telethons, benefit concerts and infomercial style pleas for donations and aid to Haiti. I remember asking myself how many of them would have been able to point out the poverty stricken country on a map on Jan. 11. Even more disturbing, I wondered how many of the people who had become whole-hearted Haiti-helpers had even a vague conception of what the country would have looked like before the earthquake struck, or of how badly their help was needed before the ground shook and the aftermath attracted the international spotlight of humanitarianism.

It is of course the duty of all of us fortunate enough to escape such suffering to do whatever is within our means to help the Haitian people in a time of such great need. But we mustn’t forget that responding to disasters and reacting to tragedies is only one small part of creating a better world and improving the situations of those less fortunate.

The current situation in Haiti is a catastrophe that has been caused not only by the effects of a 7.0 earthquake that lasted 38 seconds, but by decades of unstable government, a decimated economy, a severely degraded natural environment and saddening levels of poverty that the world has seemed content to ignore. All of these things left Haiti more vulnerable to a natural disaster than any other country in the western hemisphere.

The earthquake in Haiti will be remembered as one of the worst catastrophes of our time. What will be more easily forgotten is the tragedy that Haitian people have lived in for decades. The crisis in Haiti should serve as a reminder that there are people in need all over the globe and we shouldn’t wait until the ground literally shakes before they become a priority.