Three things are most striking about the disaster. First, Haitian President Rene Preval has no idea how many corpses there are — 50,000 or 500,000. Nonetheless, in the 2006 presidential election, he knew with amazing precision how many Haitians voted for him, although protesters claimed widespread voting fraud and paralyzed the capital with burning barricades.

Second, the earthquake that struck Haiti measured 7 on the Richter Scale. That puts it at the lower limit of quakes capable of causing serious damage over large areas. It was a very strong earthquake, but it should not have been catastrophic. The earthquake that hit Mexico City in 1985 measured 8.1 on the Richter Scale and caused about 10,000 deaths. That is no small figure, but it is nowhere near Haiti’s estimated 200,000.

Third, Haitian authorities have not been able to cope with the logistics of receiving humanitarian aid. Airplanes are forced to circle for extended periods before landing. It took six full hours to unload aid brought in by China. And during that time, the people of Port-au-Prince protested the lack of humanitarian aid by building a barricade of rotting corpses.

Haiti, with a nominal per capita gross domestic product of $790, is by far the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It is a territory that from the moment of its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492 has had a stable, normal government for only 19 years — from 1915 to 1934, when it was occupied by U.S. forces.

In addition to its extreme poverty, Haiti is perhaps best known for its voodoo; the Tonton Macoutes, the country’s notorious former secret police squads; and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the highly corrupt dictator who was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1986.

Now the world is sending humanitarian aid to Haiti, but there is almost no hope that it will provide significant relief. If Preval retains power, he will use most of the aid to feed his own police and military forces. Meanwhile, the chaos in the country is an excellent opportunity for the anti-

government forces, known as the “Cannibal Army,” to eat its way — literally — at Preval’s forces and seize power. One way to prolong the chaos and increase anti-Preval sentiment is to try to block humanitarian aid from getting to the people. As long as hundreds of thousands of Haitians remain hungry, homeless and sick, the more likely that they will be willing to support another coup.

The only force with the material and logistical resources required to help the earthquake victims is the U.S. military. The 10,000 troops whom Washington has deployed will have to tread lightly, even while struggling to maintain order on the streets of Port-au-Prince. This is because the minute that a U.S. sergeant shoots a voodoo rebel building, a barricade of corpses or a member of the Cannibal Army intent on eating that barricade, then angry protesters shouting “Down with the U.S. colonizers!” is all but certain in the streets.

Natural disasters test the strength of societies. Wherever social order is well-developed, the suffering that follows a calamity can be alleviated. But in countries like Haiti, where there is a daily struggle to survive even when there are no major natural disasters, the negative consequences of a strong earthquake can be lethal for the entire country.

**Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.