At 4:53 pm on January 12 2010, the worst earthquake to hit the Caribbean in 200 years struck the impoverished nation of Haiti. The epicentre of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake was only 25 kilometres from the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince; the devastation was massive and immediate.
Click the play button on our map below to track the initial earthquake and aftershocks; see a bird’s eye view of the devastation.
Stories, research, videos and interactive resources to help you understand the big picture of
the Haiti earthquake:
Explore the earthquake’s impact and learn why the destruction was so great. Track a timeline of the global response. Learn about Haiti’s history, and how the country became so vulnerable to natural disasters.
Go behind-the-scenes of the humanitarian response. Meet the players who shaped the operation, and explore the challenges they faced. Learn about the technologies that saved lives, and how people survived in the days after the quake, with and without humanitarian aid.
Will Haiti be able to “build back better”? Learn about how the earthquake has changed Haiti, and the government’s plan to rebuild. Follow updates from Port-au-Prince through our ongoing blog, Haiti Today.
Survive. Report. Save lives. Experience the earthquake’s aftermath and make decisions as an aid worker, survivor, or journalist in this jaw-dropping simulation created with original footage from Haiti. Warning: contains graphic imagery.
A gallery of all the interactive resources found in The Haiti Earthquake section of the website. Includes our interactive maps, timelines, and educational pieces about the earthquake – all of which can be shared and embedded on other sites.