Places in News: Haiti Country

Context

• The UN children’s agency chief offered a dire assessment of the chaotic situation in Haiti, suffering from serious hunger and malnutrition.

Unicef Head Says Haiti Country Situation Nears Chaos Of ‘Mad Max’

• Collapse of Basic Services: Haiti, hit by drought, natural disaster and weak government, has seen “the near-collapse of basic services.
• Attack on Welfare Shipments: The gangs looted a UNICEF shipment intended to provide relief for suffering mothers and children.

About Haiti Country

• About: It is a country in the Caribbean Sea that includes the western third of the island of Hispaniola and smaller islands as Gonave, Tortue (Tortuga), Grande Caye, and Vache. 
• Capital: Port-au-Prince
• It is positioned in the Northern and Western hemispheres of the Earth.
• Bordering Countries: Haiti is bordered to the east by the Dominican Republic, which covers the rest of Hispaniola, to the south and west by the Caribbean, and to the north by the Atlantic Ocean. 
• Colonial History: It won independence from France in 1804, making it the second country in the Americas, after the United States, to free itself from colonial rule.
• Relief and drainage: Haiti’s irregular coastline forms a long, slender peninsula in the south and a shorter one in the north, separated by the triangular-shaped Gulf of Gonave. 
• Important Mountain Ranges: The island of Hispaniola consists of four major mountain ranges that extend from west to east:
• • Cordillera Septentrional 
  • Haiti’s Massif du Nord (“Northern Massif”)
  • Matheux Mountains 
  • Massif de la Selle 
• Ethnic Groups and Languages: Nearly all of Haiti’s population are of African origin (termed Blacks). 

News Source: The Hindu

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