Haiti

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      'Emotional' reunion for Haiti quake baby, mom
      A mother broke down in tears as she was reunited with her baby girl six months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti. Haiti - Earthquake - Caribbean - Port-au-Prince - Organizations... More
      Lewiston Mayor and CEO of Local company travel to Haiti
      Back in April, the Mayor of Lewiston and the CEO of Geiger Brothers joined a church group on a rebuilding mission to Haiti.... More
      Haiti earthquake baby given up for dead finally reunited with her mother
      Marie Miracle Seignon broke down in tears when she saw baby Landina in London today after she travelled to the UK from Haiti, seven months after the devastating earthquake... More
      U.S., Haiti in tug of war over 12 orphans
      Six months after a chaotic airlift to the United States, 12 Haitian children remain in a Roman Catholic institution near Pittsburgh, their fate in limbo while U.S. and Haitian authorities struggle to determine which nation should be their future home.... More
      Haiti baby Landina reunited with mother
      Exclusive: Baby Landina, brought to the UK for life saving surgery after she was pulled from the rubble of an earthquake which devastated Haiti, is finally reunited with her mother. Channel 4 News' Inigo Gilmore writes about how he tracked down Landina's family.... More
      Haiti Map

      Latitude: 17.5639 Longtitude: -72.18623

      Location:
      Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic

      Border Countries:
      Dominican Republic 360 km

      Terrain:
      mostly rough and mountainous

      Geography:
      shares island of Hispaniola with Dominican Republic (western one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic)

      Capital:
      Port-au-Prince

      About Haiti
      The native Taino Amerindians - who inhabited the island of Hispaniola when it was discovered by COLUMBUS in 1492 - were virtually annihilated by Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century, the French established a presence on Hispaniola, and in 1697, Spain ceded to the French the western third of the island, which later became Haiti. The French colony, based on forestry and sugar-related industries, became one of the wealthiest in the Caribbean, but only through the heavy importation of African slaves and considerable environmental degradation. In the late 18th century, Haiti's nearly half million slaves revolted under Toussaint L'OUVERTURE. After a prolonged struggle, Haiti became the first black republic to declare its independence in 1804. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has been plagued by political violence for most of its history. After an armed rebellion led to the forced resignation and exile of President Jean-Bertrand ARISTIDE in February 2004, an interim government took office to organize new elections under the auspices of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Continued violence and technical delays prompted repeated postponements, but Haiti finally did inaugurate a democratically elected president and parliament in May of 2006.

      Population:
      8924553

      Language:
      French (official), Creole (official)

      Religion:
      Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%

      Phone Service:
      domestic facilities barely adequate; international facilities slightly better; telephone density in Haiti remains the lowest in the Latin American and Caribbean region

      Currency:
      gourde (HTG)

      Climate:
      tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds

      Natural Hazards:
      lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe storms from June to October; occasional flooding and earthquakes; periodic droughts