Haitian National Palace Destroyed; Psychological Damage Highly Likely

Haiti's 12 January earthquake badly damaged most governmental buildings in the nation's capital of Port-au-Prince. The Haitian National Palace, which like the US White House is the both the residence of the country's President and a symbolic governmental seat, collapsed.

According to research on neighborhood destruction in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina[1], massive building destruction and deconstruction results in “wrenching” mental and emotional distress. Similar research conducted after the 1983 earthquake in Italy indicated that serious long-term psychological distress correlates directly with the severity of environmental damage and financial loss[2]. In addition, the care and respect with which destroyed buildings are managed following a disaster can either mitigate or worsen public distress.

[1] Denhart, H. (2009) Deconstructing disaster: Psycho-social impact of building deconstruction in Post-Katrina New Orleans. Cities, Volume 26, Issue 4, August 2009, Pages 195-201. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2009.04.003

[2] “Long Term Psychological Effects of Natural Disasters”. Reprinted from Psychosomatic Medicine 58:18-24 (1996) and available online at: http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/reprint/58/1/18.pdf

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