(http://www.operationworld.org/hait)
Haiti is poverty-stricken insular country located in the Caribbean with a population of roughly 10 million. For many years the tribulations of this country have made international news including their civil unrest and natural disasters. These tribulations most certainly illustrate the challenges presented to insular nations.
Like other insular nations, the environment has caused major struggles for Haiti. Haiti’s geographic location leads it vulnerable to a variety of different natural disasters. Hurricanes are prevalent and highly destructive in this part of the world. In fact in 2008 hurricanes accounted for over 800 deaths and destroyed 70% of agricultural land (Henley, 2010). Along with hurricanes Haiti is vulnerable to earthquakes, like the 7.0 magnitude one in 2010 that absolutely devastated the country. These environmental factors present major problems to the nation of Haiti. When disaster strikes not only are lives lost and buildings damaged, but many times the food supply for the country is severely or completely destroyed. In insular countries, maintaining a proper food supply is hard enough under normal conditions, but to work around this level of devastation is extremely difficult.
(http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1954087_2043663,00.html)
Along with food and water supply, raw materials are often hard to come across or extremely expensive in Haiti. In the rebuilding efforts after the 2010 earthquake many supplies had to be imported from the United States which was extremely expensive and time consuming process (Fallon, 2015). After obtaining the goods necessary to rebuild, citizens lacked the work ethic to get the job done quickly and efficiently. From his experiences Paul Fallon noted that the only sure way to motivate Haitian workers was to make fun of himself, allowing them to maintain a feeling of superiority over him (Fallon, 2015). Unfortunately the reality is that Haiti relies heavily on foreign donations and aid to maintain their existence.
While many nations, like Japan, have worked to overcome the challenges of insular living, Haiti shows how costly a lack of leadership can be. In order to be successful governments must first create trustworthy environments. There should be no doubt that decisions are being made with the best interests of the country and its citizens in mind. Next leaders must be prepared to come up with new and innovative ways for their country to establish a level of independence from other countries in order to balance their need to rely on imported materials. While there may be challenges that are unavoidable, like natural disasters, insular nations can be prosperous with competent leaders at the helm.
References
Fallon, P. (2015, January 12). Haiti’s Economic Aftershocks. Retrieved April 14, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/opinion/haitis-economic-aftershocks.html?_r=0
Henley, J. (2010, January 14). Haiti: A long descent to hell. Retrieved April 18, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jan/14/haiti-history-earthquake-disaster
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