Haiti is in the middle of a major environmental disaster, not unlike Katrina when it hit New Orleans. Except, instead of a breach in levees, Hurricane Ike has left Haiti has to deal with runoff from the mountains which cause extreme flooding to the valleys and cities below.

Why is the runoff so bad? Consider this: Poor Haitians go into the mountains to harvest trees to make charcoal which is sold in the cities. Because there's no regulation, the trees disappear before you know it and now there's nothing to keep the ground soil from washing away.

In 2003, we did a series called Haiti, The Eroding Nation. Attached is a News Illustrated we did that describes the environmental problem in detail. And if you want more, you can see the multimedia project on The Edge here.