On 14 August, more than 11 years after Haiti suffered the deadliest earthquake ever recorded in the western hemisphere, it was hit by another, stronger one. Its epicentre was 59 miles west of the goudougoudou, the onomatopoeic Haitian Kreyol word for the quake of 12 January 2010.
Then on 16 August, Tropical Storm Grace struck Haiti, compounding the problems faced by the Caribbean nation. Many people – both in Haiti and beyond – responded to news of the two natural disasters with the bleak phrase “Haiti never gets a break”. Others restricted themselves to commiserations. “Poor Haiti”, said the WhatsApp messages flying around between people in Haiti and people abroad who knew Haiti. “Haiti chérie. Poor Haiti chérie. What can Haiti do? Non-stop problems.”
The messages represented a fatalistic idea: that Haiti is doomed to constant suffering, that its problems are inevitable and nothing will ever change.
