The Embassy of Haiti is organising a commemoration mass on the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which will take place on Friday 12 January in the Parroquia of Santísimo Cristo de Salud, calle Ayala 12, Madrid, at 7.15 pm. Please confirm your attendance by emailing amb.espagne@diplomatie.ht or calling 915752624.
The effects on Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas at the time, were devastating. Some 316,000 people died, 350,000 were injured and more than 1.5 million people were left homeless.
While many homes collapsed in the aftermath of the earthquake, other more solidly constructed government buildings, such as the National Palace, collapsed. A hospital in Pétionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, collapsed in the quake and the Port-au-Prince Cathedral also fell. The UN also confirmed that the headquarters of the Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, located in Port-au-Prince, the capital, was severely damaged, as were other UN facilities.