In the days after the January earthquake in Haiti, some staggering numbers were reported in the media. There was approximately $14bn in property damage, most of which occurred in Port-au-Prince, the largest city in Haiti, and approximately 250,000 people were killed, either directly or indirectly, by the earthquake. The total amount of insured losses, however, was expected to be less than $20m, only approximately one percent of the total loss. By comparison, more than one-third of the losses suffered in Hurricane Katrina were insured.
Even before the earthquake, Haiti was one of the world's poorest nations, with a gross domestic product of about $2 per person per day and approximately 80 percent of Haitians living in poverty. Because of this, the insurance market in Haiti never developed as it has in wealthier nations; Haitians rarely purchased life insurance or coverage for their personal belongings or business assets and few, if any, purchased business interruption insurance or other
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