HAITI'S MISERY IS MAN-MADE

Sorry to say it but the recent earthquake is a man-made disaster first and foremost, and so it will remain regardless of how much money is donated for relief.And this is just the beginning of what may ultimately possibility that violent gangs will emerge to take the place of leadership, to control food supplies, to loot what remains to be looted. There is a real possibility, in the coming days, of epidemics, mass starvation and civil war.

Though the earthquake itself was powerful, its impact was multiplied many, many times by the weakness of civil society and the absence of the rule of law in Haiti. As Roger Noriega has written, "you can literally see the dysfunction from space." Satellite photos of Hispaniola, the island split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, show green forests on the Dominican side and bare, deforested hills on the Haitian side. Mudslides and collapsing houses were routine in Haiti even before this disaster. Laws designed to prevent erosion, and building codes designed to prevent criminally shoddy construction, were ignored. The rickety slums of Port-au-Prince were constructed in ravines and on steep, unstable hills. When they collapsed, they collapsed completely.

Doctors have already issued warnings about the threats of tetanus and gangrene as well as the spread of measles, meningitis and other infections.

In Haiti, where AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are rampant, children are malnourished and hygiene is already a challenge.

Last week TV Evangelist, Pat Robinson, weighted in saying that the earthquake was the result of countries practice of Voodoo. It is a matter of historical record that Haiti's independence from France is, in fact, rooted in a pact with the devil made on August 14, 1791 by a group of voodoo priests led by a former slave named Boukman. The pact was made at a place called Bois-Caiman, and the tree under which a black pig was sacrificed in this ceremony is still a shrine in Haiti. Annual voodoo ceremonies are conducted every August 14 on this very site, essentially renewing the covenant with darkness each summer. An iron statue of a pig stands today in Port-au-Prince to commemorate the Boukman contract with the devil.Even though Haits is listed as 70% Catholic and 30% Protestant it is 100% voodoo. It truly is the "Isle of the Damned".

I know it is a dark and ominous assessment and I hope I am wrong. Haiti has the likes of former president Bill Clinton pimping err tying to help them out but I wouldn't hold my breath.