Ouest Department

Ouest Department
Department
Country	Haiti
Capital	Port-au-Prince
Area	4,827 km2 (1,863.72 sq mi)
Population	3,093,698 (2003 Census)

Ouest (English: West, Haitian Creole: Lwès) is one of the ten departments (French: départements) of Haiti. It is the jurisdictional seat of the national capital, the city of Port-au-Prince. It has an area of 4,827 square kilometres (1,864 sq mi) and a population of 3,093,698 (2003 Census). It borders the Dominican Republic to the east.

It is the second largest department in Haiti after the Artibonite Department. Gonâve Island is also part of the Ouest Department. The department's stretch of coastline lies entirely in the Gulf of Gonâve.

Arrondissements & Communes

(with 2003 Census populations in parenthesis)

• Arcahaie Arrondissement (166,089)
  • Arcahaie (102,639)
  • Cabaret (63,450)

• Croix-des-Bouquets Arrondissement (441,563)
  • Cornillon (48,934)
  • Croix-des-Bouquets (229,127)
  • Fonds-Verettes (40,224)
  • Ganthier (71,261)
  • Thomazeau (52,017)

• La Gonâve Arrondissement (75,548)
  • Anse-à-Galets (52,662)
  • Pointe-à-Raquette (22,886)

• Léogâne Arrondissement (300,982)
  • Grand-Goâve (49,288)
  • Léogâne (134,190)
  • Petit-Goâve (134,190)

• Port-au-Prince Arrondissement (2,109,516)
  • Carrefour (373,916)
  • Cité Soleil ^×
  • Delmas (679,650)
  • Gressier (25,947)
  • Kenscoff (42,175)
  • Pétionville (283,052)
  • Tabarre ^×
  • Port-au-Prince (704,776)

• ^× — The communes of Cité Soleil and Tabarre are newly constituted, and did not exist at the time of the 2003 Census

History

2010 7.0 Earthquake

Shake map of 2010 Haiti earthquake

Main article: 2010 Haiti earthquake

On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in the department, the largest in Haiti in two centuries.^[1] In the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, many areas suffered damage.^[2] In the Léogâne Arrondissement, the city of Léogane suffered 80-90% destruction.^[3] Other places in Léogâne were also affected.

Mass emigration to

Absolute poverty levels in the Ouest department are the lowest in the country^[4] and Haiti's few public schools are located in Port-au-Prince.^[5]

References

1. ^ CNN News Morning, 13 January 2010
2. ^ CNN, "The Situation Room", 15 January 2010
3. ^ ABC News, 'Haiti Disaster Like "No Other"', AFP, Lisa Millar, 17 January 2010 (accessed 17 January 2010)
4. ^ Mapping Inequality in the Caribbean, December 4, 2010 http://www.haitiedstories.org/haiti-map/
5. ^ Rebuilding Haiti's Education System from the Ground Up, October 25, 2010 http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/caribbean/rebuilding-haiti-education-system-earthquake