Jacqui Goddard: Voodoo nation the population fear is paying for its past

The nation's position at the western end of the Atlantic Ocean's notorious "Hurricane Alley" makes it particularly vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes, including four major storms – Fay, Gustav, Hannah and Ike – that hit the country in swift succession in 2008, leaving close to a million people in need of humanitarian aid.

Four years earlier, tropical storm Jeanne and floods killed more than 6,000 and in 1999 hurricanes killed and injured more than 20,000. Mudslides and floods have been frequent due to the deforestation brought about by the poverty-stricken population's reliance on wood for fuel; a century ago, 60 per cent of Haiti was covered in trees, but now just 2 per cent is forested.

Haiti was founded in 1804 as the world's first independent black-led nation. But its development was held back by a series of military clashes, coups and dictatorships, most notably that of the Duvalier family.

Their reign, which began in 1957 and drove hundreds of thousands to flee into exile, ended in 1986 with the toppling of the despot Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed Baby Doc, though social turbulence, violent political struggles and corruption have since persisted.

In 1994, with the US threatening an armed invasion, Haiti's military leaders negotiated a peaceful departure, allowing the restoration of the formerly deposed Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president. But he was ousted for a second time in 2004 amid a corruption scandal.

Now governed by his ally Rene Preval, who was elected in 2006, Haiti still relies on UN troops to maintain an uneasy peace.

Jean-Robert LaFortune, president of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition in Miami, said the series of natural disasters that had struck Haiti, where voodoo is almost the national religion, had left many fearing that the country was being punished for its past.

"It's like there is an omen hanging over Haiti," he said, adding: "It's like nature has revolted against us."