2010 Haiti Earthquake

2010 Haiti earthquake, large-scale earthquake that occurred January 12, 2010, on the West Indian island of Hispaniola, comprising the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Most severely affected was Haiti, occupying the western third of the island. An exact death toll proved elusive in the ensuing chaos. The Haitian government’s official count was more than 300,000, which would make the earthquake’s aftermath one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history, but other estimates were considerably smaller. Hundreds of thousands of survivors were displaced.