ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the science that was available to the Haitian people and how it could have reduced disaster risk significantly had it been more widely known. In a fascinating interview with Prof. Eric Calais and colleagues, it became clear that empirical evidence of seismic risk factors was already available to the Haitian Government at least two years prior to the 2010 earthquake. However, the Government did not take seismic risks seriously in comparison with annual meteorological risks. The level of earthquake awareness across the demographic spectrum reflected by survivors was appalling, relative to the science available to their Government institutions. This ignorance played a significant role in the resulting scale of human and material damage. Religious education, though pastorally beneficial, did little to help hazard awareness and disaster risk mitigation. On the other hand, the authors found a surprising degree of interest in and hunger for the insights from geoscience, which is encouraging going forward.
