There has been a natural move to make comparisons between Haiti and Chile, as both countries have faced massive earthquakes this year with very different aftereffects. This comparison is especially natural given that the Chilean quake was substantially more powerful than the Haiti one and yet the death toll was staggeringly higher in Haiti (something like 700+ v. a quarter of a million).
Some have taken the opportunity to note the issue of the role of the state and building codes, while others have pointed to the ill effects of US trade policies on Haitian development. Other comparisons have been made, one suspects.
Any comparisons between Chile and Haiti has to start with the fact that, as measured by per capita GDP, Chile is one of the wealthiest countries in the Western Hemisphere while Haiti is not only the poorest country in the hemisphere, it is one of the poorest in the entire world. If we exclude some micro-states (such as Aruba, the Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago) Chile is the wealthiest state in the hemisphere not named “Canada” or the “United States of America.”
Chile’s per capita GDP $14,700 is while Haiti’s is $1,300.1
A more complex measure of development, the UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI), which is scored on a 1.0-0.0 scale and is composed of variables that examine life expectancy, literacy, education, and economics, rates Chile as the 44th most developed state in the world (out of 182 ranked) with an HDI of .878, while Haiti is ranked 149th, with an HDI of .532.
These two states are in wholly different categories of development. In many ways, that is all one needs to know to understand the outcomes of these two events.
Further, James Joyner notes (citing a WaPo piece) that Chile also rates well in terms of political corruption (which affects, amongst other things, how well building codes are enforced) while Haiti rates as highly corrupt.2
A final piece that is very much worth noting is that Chile has extensive experience with earthquakes, while Haiti has had practically none. This was discussed at length yesterday on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. From the transcript (all emphasis mine):
HARRIS: […] the last really significant earthquake in Haiti was well over 100 years ago, and I think that there was just not a mindset about earthquakes in Haiti at all. So yes, poverty, people were just getting by as best they could, and often the best wasn’t very good. Whereas places like Japan and Chile, and of course the Western United States, you know, there’s a clear history of earthquakes, and people know they can’t afford to just forget about it.
CONAN: Andre Filiatrault?
Mr. FILIATRAULT: Yeah, I fully agree with what Richard is saying. I mean, when a country is sort of barely functioning, you know, prior to the earthquake, like Haiti, really having all kinds of political problems and issues, I mean, earthquake-resistant design becomes sort of lower on the priority scale of the government of the country. Coupled with the fact that, you know, even the earthquake that Richard is referring to in 1812 - I’m sorry, 1842 in Cap-Haitien - was not even really reported. I mean, it was not publicized, and only people locally knew about this earthquake. The previous largest earthquake in Port-au-Prince dated back to 1750.
So, in Haiti you have a very poor country with a plethora of problems that has had no real reason to expend the resources needed to prepare for a massive earthquake. In other words, the lack of adequate building codes to prepare for such an event makes sense on a lot of levels.
I would note, likewise, there are a lot of place in the US which lack building codes that anticipate 7.0 earthquakes because there is no reason to assume that the costs needed to make such accommodations are worth paying. Indeed, that is true in most of the continental United States.
An even simpler example: if one lives in California and then moves to another part of the United States one is struck in places like Sam’s or Costco how things are stacked in the two locales. Businesses in California invest in nets and barriers and different kinds of storage methods because they don’t want to risk even a moderate quake knocking over inventory, while in other parts of the country retailers simply do not see the point of the expense.
Sphere: Related Content- For those who are curious, the US’s is $46,400 and Canada’s is $38,400. Argentina is the next largest economy after Chile at $13,800. All numbers are 2024 estimates. Source. [↩]
- If the connection is not clear, in high corruption countries is not unusual for building inspectors, who enforce building codes, to be on the take. Bribes to building inspectors equals building codes not being enforced. [↩]
