ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the 2010 Haiti earthquake affected the religious faith of survivors and how religious faith (mainly Christian Catholic and Protestant, in symbiosis with Vodou) influenced how they responded to, and are recovering from, their physical and psychological experience of the earthquake. In particular, the influence of religious themes such as the Bible, creation, divine providence and eschatological hope are described in terms of the positive and any negative contributions these made towards their disaster response, recovery and future mitigation of disasters. An interpretation of Haitian theology is offered: this counters the common Western assumption that fatalism is a typical Haitian religious outlook that hinders disaster recovery and mitigation. We comment on the evidence of the negative impact of Western religious influences throughout Haitian history and on how Haitians resisted and coped with such influences, thereby developing culturally embedded coping strategies.
