Dr. Jean-Germain Gros, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Administration at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is also a Haitian-American and will be a guest speaker at a discussion hosted by the political science academy titled “The destruction of Haiti: A look into the country’s history and future,” on Feb. 10.
Gros said that he has been personally affected by the earthquake that has ravaged Haiti.

Gros explained that he lost a second cousin along with three family houses that were destroyed in the earthquake. Gros said he has plans to visit Haiti as soon as commercial flights resume.
“What happened in Haiti has been a great tragedy, many people lost their lives,” Gros said.
Gros expressed that although he feels there is great hardship ahead for Haitians, Gros believes the Haitians are a strong-willed people who will overcome.
“We have known it all: hurricanes, dictatorships, revolutions and now earthquakes,” Gros said.
He also envisions ways the UM System as a whole can help in the reconstruction efforts.
“One possibility is to send down a team of engineers, structural engineers, civil engineers to see how best Haiti may be reconstructed,” Gros said.
Haiti’s infrastructure was not meant to withstand such a powerful earthquake and does not meet many building standards found in the west. “There should be more relief and assistance from other nations,” Luke rundle, freshman, said. Haiti is also exposed to two major fault lines which make the nation more vulnerable to future earthquakes. “So the question becomes, for a country with limited resources, how best to rebuild and withstand earthquakes,” Gros said.

It was on Tuesday, January 12, when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck just 15 miles away from the capital Port-AU-Prince. The earthquake claimed close to 200,000 deaths according to the European Commission and left 1 million homeless. Many buildings collapsed including the presidential palace. This has created a huge humanitarian crisis in a country where poverty was rife even before the earthquake. Haiti is considered the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. Gros explained a number of internal and external factors that have caused this.
“After Haiti became independent, major powers including the United States and France had an embargo on Haiti,” Gros said.
Gros explained that in 1825, Haiti’s former colonizer France had threatened to re-invade unless reparations were paid of 160 million gold francs, which would have been equal to $20 billion today. Gros explained that it took Haiti until 1947 to “pay off the so called debt.”
Historical divisions among Haitians and corrupt dictatorships have also added to the nation’s poverty level.
UM-St. Louis has taken notice of the need in Haiti and plans a benefit concert titled, “Finding Hope for Haiti Concert,” on Thursday Feb 11 from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the MSC Pilot House. All donations will profit the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development.
“We plan to attend the concert and we are looking for other ways to help Haiti,” Ibrahim Nigo, senior, media studies, Pan African association member, said.