A Small Comparison
The damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy has provided a clear lens through which to examine comparative media coverage of disaster.
Before the storm hurled itself across the East Coast, it had traveled through Haiti, where it killed at least 50 people and left thousands more homeless — this in a country still reeling from the devastation of the 2010 earthquake that killed perhaps 300,000 and left around 1.5 million homeless. If you read and watched the U.S. media, you would probably not know that Sandy had ever touched down in Haiti — I looked hard for a story covering the Haitian casualties, and didn’t find one, although there was a lot of chatter on the Internet about Haiti and the storm.
National Palace and Hurricane Sandy
Here’s what remains of Haiti’s National Palace, which crumbled and broke into thirds and lurched toward the ground in the 2010 earthquake and now is finally being demolished with the help of JP/HRO, Sean Penn’s Haiti relief and reconstruction group. Work should be completed by the end of November. Interesting to note that the central frame of the shell of the Palace, sans grandiose domes and columns, greatly resembles the structure of a little Haitian kay, or village house. (not sure how to credit this photo!)
Rich Alleged Kidnapper, Rich Hostages
This is by far my favorite Haitian story ever to make the headlines since I began covering Haiti years ago. In my forthcoming book, Farewell, Fred Voodoo, I speculate about why kidnapping stopped for many weeks after the earthquake. I posit that many kidnappers had been killed; that habits — so important to kidnap planning — had been disrupted; that kidnappers were too busy saving their nearest and dearest to rush out and take the Ns and Ds of others. Once rubble was somewhat cleared and you could manage to get a getaway car away, the kidnappings began again.
Haitian textile workers at the new Sae-A plant in Caracol —PR Newswire
A New Kind of Plantation
On Tuesday, Sae-A, South Korea’s premier clothing manufacturer, opened its new plant in Caracol, in the north of Haiti, with great fanfare. Present were both Clintons (the kinder, gentler Mama and Papa Doc of today’s Haiti) as well as the actual president of Haiti, Michel Martelly, and Luis Moreno, the head of the Inter-American Development Bank. The US Embassy sent representatives, as well. Richard Branson, international man of finance, was there, too, as an investor in the project. Along for the ride, perhaps in Branson’s or Clinton’s private jets, were more of the usual suspects (usual for Haiti after the earthquake, that is): Sean Penn, Ben Stiller, and Donna Karan — lending their celebrity wattage to this dubious project.
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