Haiti the 1st anniversary

A year ago an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hit the island of Haiti. It was the sixth most deadliest ever with nearly a hundred thousand casualties and a quarter of a million deaths.

A massive aid effort was launched with Westcountry charity Shelterbox involved in the relief effort.

ShelterBox's response to the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010 was the biggest, longest and most complex in the organisation’s history. It began 12 minutes after the earthquake struck and continues a year later.

LISTEN HERE:

Shelterbox volunteer Becky Maynard is in Port Au prance and spoke to Heart

28,417 ShelterBoxes have been sent to Haiti; more than have ever been sent out before in one year let alone to one country.

In the nights following the earthquake, many people in Haiti slept in the streets, on pavements, in their cars, or in makeshift shanty towns either because their houses had been destroyed, or they feared standing structures would not withstand aftershocks.

Construction standards are low in Haiti; Engineers have stated that it is unlikely many buildings would have stood through any kind of disaster. Structures are often raised wherever they can fit; some buildings were built on slopes with insufficient foundations or steel works.