DPU Working Paper - No. 210

By Brian Caplan

The Republic of Haiti (Haiti) is the poorest and least developed country in the Western Hemisphere. Plagued by floods, landslides, earthquakes, droughts and more, it is subject to repeated natural hazard events, often leading to large-scale disasters. As such, it has long been a topic of study for Disaster Risk Reduction research, with numerous attempts made to understand and address the conditions that translate hazard events into disasters. Despite this concerted effort, it remains in a state of vulnerability, evidenced by the 2010 Earthquake — the most devastating natural hazard-induced disaster in modern history. This disconnect is, in large part, borne out of a failure to recognise the underlying conditions that create vulnerability in the first place — conditions initiated during colonisation.

The Forensic Investigation of Disasters methodological framework, and specifically its Retrospective Longitudinal Analysis approach, offers scope to interpret Haiti’s development trajectory through a historical perspective, allowing for a deeper exploration of the nation’s “root-causes” of vulnerability. By adapting the Retrospective Longitudinal Analysis approach to include a postcolonial perspective, we can ultimately trace the country’s current conditions to practices initiated during its time as the French Colony of Saint-Domingue. In doing so, we uncover that the deforestation, soil erosion, economic instability, weak governance structures, and unregulated urbanisation we see today are a result of the colonial structures imposed over 300 years ago.

Studies such as this, not only aim to contribute empirically to risk construction within Haiti but demonstrate the value of incorporating a postcolonial perspective into Disaster Risk Reduction studies. Author Brian Caplan Supervisor Dr Donald Brown MSc Environment and Sustainable Development Development Planning Unit, University College London 28th September 2020 / reviewed for DPU working paper 28th July 2021

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