Cap-Haitien, January 12, 2026; Remembering is no longer enough!
By La Rédaction · Port-au-Prince
· 2 min read · Updated 24 April 2026
Translated from French — AI-assisted and reviewed by the editorial team. The French version is authoritative. Read the original · About our translation policy
To Mirlène Suffrain,
to Oliver Lafortune,
and all the others! January 12 should never be an abstract date. It should not be a meaningless ritual, a minute of silence repeated without consequence. Sixteen years after the catastrophe that shattered Port-au-Prince and forever marked the national consciousness, Haiti still has not learned to listen to what science, history, and reality insistently tell it. In January 2017, seven years after the earthquake, we came to Cap-Haitien. Not to commemorate, but to alert. With the Institute of Public Policy that I directed, in partnership with Café Philo, we had undertaken a clear awareness-raising initiative: Cap-Haitien is a threatened city. Not symbolically. Not hypothetically. Geologically. Structurally. Imminently. The message was unambiguous: Cap-Haitien is not a pending « if », but an earthquake in waiting. The stakeholders were there, rigorously chosen: the Cap-Haitien City Hall, Collège Notre-Dame, CIAT, Radio Télévision Caraïbes, the National Port Authority, institutional officials, educators, territorial actors. The scientific discourse was laid on the table, well-documented, responsible, without sensationalism. Nine years later, what have we done with it? Today, sixteen years after January 12, 2010, scientific discourse is no longer just ignored: it is marginalized, sometimes fought against. In a country in decay, prevention is perceived as a luxury, anticipation as a waste of time, planning as a political threat. Cap-Haitien is suffocating. It is suffocating under the weight of disorganization, anarchic urbanization, unsanitary conditions, and abandonment. I am told the city is dirty. But visible dirt is only the symptom. The true defilement is institutional. It lies in the chronic inability of the State to transform knowledge into action, warnings into public policy, and responsibility into governance. January 12 left behind dead, injured, and crippled. It also left a cruel lesson: disaster is never solely natural. It is always amplified by unpreparedness, indifference, and the fragmentation of public authority. In this sense, Haiti has not turned the page on 2010. It continues to live in its shadow. Having power is not enough. To govern is neither to occupy a seat, nor to control a territory, nor to multiply speeches. To govern is to act before the irreparable. It is to accept that science disturbs, that prevention costs, that responsibility obliges. It is to understand that every day of inaction is a disguised decision. This text is not a lament. It is a cry. A brutal reminder that time heals nothing when accompanied by denial.
Cap-Haitien deserves better than a silent wait for the next disaster. Haiti deserves better than power for power's sake. Remembering is no longer enough. Acting is now a moral debt. Yves Lafortune, Miami, January 12, 2026!
to Oliver Lafortune,
and all the others! January 12 should never be an abstract date. It should not be a meaningless ritual, a minute of silence repeated without consequence. Sixteen years after the catastrophe that shattered Port-au-Prince and forever marked the national consciousness, Haiti still has not learned to listen to what science, history, and reality insistently tell it. In January 2017, seven years after the earthquake, we came to Cap-Haitien. Not to commemorate, but to alert. With the Institute of Public Policy that I directed, in partnership with Café Philo, we had undertaken a clear awareness-raising initiative: Cap-Haitien is a threatened city. Not symbolically. Not hypothetically. Geologically. Structurally. Imminently. The message was unambiguous: Cap-Haitien is not a pending « if », but an earthquake in waiting. The stakeholders were there, rigorously chosen: the Cap-Haitien City Hall, Collège Notre-Dame, CIAT, Radio Télévision Caraïbes, the National Port Authority, institutional officials, educators, territorial actors. The scientific discourse was laid on the table, well-documented, responsible, without sensationalism. Nine years later, what have we done with it? Today, sixteen years after January 12, 2010, scientific discourse is no longer just ignored: it is marginalized, sometimes fought against. In a country in decay, prevention is perceived as a luxury, anticipation as a waste of time, planning as a political threat. Cap-Haitien is suffocating. It is suffocating under the weight of disorganization, anarchic urbanization, unsanitary conditions, and abandonment. I am told the city is dirty. But visible dirt is only the symptom. The true defilement is institutional. It lies in the chronic inability of the State to transform knowledge into action, warnings into public policy, and responsibility into governance. January 12 left behind dead, injured, and crippled. It also left a cruel lesson: disaster is never solely natural. It is always amplified by unpreparedness, indifference, and the fragmentation of public authority. In this sense, Haiti has not turned the page on 2010. It continues to live in its shadow. Having power is not enough. To govern is neither to occupy a seat, nor to control a territory, nor to multiply speeches. To govern is to act before the irreparable. It is to accept that science disturbs, that prevention costs, that responsibility obliges. It is to understand that every day of inaction is a disguised decision. This text is not a lament. It is a cry. A brutal reminder that time heals nothing when accompanied by denial.
Cap-Haitien deserves better than a silent wait for the next disaster. Haiti deserves better than power for power's sake. Remembering is no longer enough. Acting is now a moral debt. Yves Lafortune, Miami, January 12, 2026!
