Haiti After the Earthquake, Paul Farmer
Haiti After the Earthquake, Paul Farmer
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Haiti After the Earthquake

Author: Paul Farmer, Edwidge Danticat

Narrator: Meryl Streep

Unabridged: 14 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/16/2011


Synopsis

On January 12, 2010, a major earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of people died, and the greater part of the capital was demolished. Dr. Paul Farmer, U.N. deputy special envoy to Haiti, who had worked in the country for nearly thirty years treating infectious diseases like tuberculosis and AIDS, and former President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, had just begun to work on an extensive development plan to improve living conditions in Haiti. Now their project was transformed into a massive international rescue and relief effort.

In his own words, Farmer documents this effort, including the harrowing obstacles and the small triumphs. Despite an outpouring of aid, the challenges were astronomical. U.N. plans were crippled by Haiti’s fragile infrastructure and the death of U.N. staff members who had been based in Port-au-Prince. In chronicling the relief effort, Farmer draws attention to the social issues that made Haiti so vulnerable to this natural disaster.

Yet Farmer’s account is not a gloomy catalog of impenetrable problems. As devastating as Haiti’s circumstances are, its population manages to keep going. Farmer shows how, even in the barest camps, Haitians organize themselves, creating small businesses such as beauty parlors. His narrative is interwoven with stories from Haitians themselves and from doctors and others working on the ground. Ultimately this is a story of human endurance and humility in difficult circumstances and seemingly overwhelming odds.

About Paul Farmer

Paul Farmer is cofounder of Partners In Health and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His books include Reimagining Global Health and To Repair the World.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Larry on February 06, 2017

The focal point of this book is the January 12, 2010 7.0 earthquake that occurred with an epicenter in Port-au-Prince Haiti the country's largest city of 3 million people. A quarter of 1 million people were killed and over 300,000 injured. Well over 1 million were homeless. Two years later there was......more

Goodreads review by Merete on May 21, 2022

I love Paul Farmer and I find it fascinating to read this book as an insight to his thought process. Yeah he does a lot of name dropping of political figures, but as an influential public health person, doesn't that make sense? So many times Farmer reminds the reader that the effort to rebuild Haiti......more

Goodreads review by Florence on September 28, 2011

I wish I had read this book from back to front. Paul Farmer writes the first 2/3 of the book and it is like plowing through 200 pages of acknowledgements and personal itinerary. Everybody gets acknowledged and their role documented and every meeting duly noted. By contrast, the last 1/3 of the book......more

Goodreads review by Erin on August 28, 2020

It’s crazy to me that the tremendous human suffering that followed Haiti’s earthquake happened while I was in high school, and yet I was only vaguely aware of it. This is an interesting book because it was published so soon after the earthquake, still early in the recovery process. Like any Paul Far......more

Goodreads review by Emily on October 01, 2020

3.5 stars. I have admired Paul Farmer and his global health work since I learned about him in "Mountains Beyond Mountains." This book encompasses the history of Haiti, the effects of the 2010 earthquake, the humanitarian work there, and their plan on how to "build back better." He truly has a wealth......more