On January 12, 2010 an earthquake of Richter magnitude 7.0 occurred off the coast of Haiti and near to its capital of Port au Prince. The number of injured estimated at perhaps 300,000, with 4,000 amputations reported. The nature and scale of the international response was documented and Haiti was overwhelmed and unable to control or contain the flow of this aid.  

The disaster response environment in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake represented a complex healthcare challenge. This study was designed to identify challenges during the Haiti disaster response through qualitative and quantitative study of injured patients. It was carried out six months after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti to review the surgical inputs of foreign medical teams.

This study showed that challenges for emergency medical response during the Haiti Earthquake involved issues of accountability, professional ethics, standards of care, unmet needs, patient agency, and expected outcomes for patients in such settings.

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The Surgical and Rehabilitation Response to the Haiti Earthquake