Carrefour, Haiti

Carrefour Kafou
Municipality
Country	Haiti
Department	Ouest
Arrondissement	Port-au-Prince
Area
• Total	164.9 km2 (63.7 sq mi)
Elevation	39 m (128 ft)
Population  (7 August 2003)
• Total	373,916
• Density	2,267.1/km2 (5,872/sq mi)

Carrefour (Haitian Creole: Kafou; pronounced: [kafu]) is a largely residential and very poor commune in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. The district has an estimated population of 408,000 as of 2003. It is mostly a bedroom community for those who work in central Port-au-Prince. The neighborhood is very poor and ill-serviced, however, as of recently, small-scale construction has gone on in the area along with street renovations.

Before the exile of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Carrefour was viewed as a Haitian tourist destination.

• 

  Carrefour, Cité Soleil, Delmas, Port-au-Prince, in relation to one another

• 

  Computer generated aerial view of Carrefour and Port-au-Prince

2010 earthquake

On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti caused heavy damage to residential buildings in Carrefour, with 40 to 50 per cent of buildings destroyed in the town’s worst-affected areas. One of the damaged facilities was the city's hospital.

In the wake of the quake, the Cuban military set up a field hospital in the region. Electricity was restored to some sectors at the beginning of February.

As of 9 February 2010, the US 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is rotating out of Haiti, having been replaced by the US 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, in their position on USS Bataan and Carrefour, Leogane and Grand-Goave, Petit-Goave.

As of 7 March 2010, a donated Fujifilm X-ray machine has arrived at the Adventists Medical Center.

External links

• Reuters, "Comprehensive Building Damage Assessment for Carrefour Commune, Haiti (Version 3)", 15 February 2010
• Reuters, "Intensity of Building Damages in Central Carrefour, Haiti", 25 February 2010