Indo-Haitian
Encyclopedia
Indo-Haitians are Haitians of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n ancestry who immigrated to or born in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

. As of 2011, there are about 200 people of Indian descent living in Haiti.

Overview

The Indian community in Haiti consists mainly of professionals, businessmen and volunteers from the congregation of the Sisters of Charity. The community is made up of immigrants from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 as well as other Caribbean islands such as Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

 and Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

. East Indian immigrants from other Caribbean islands have intermarried with other Haitian communities. Their descendants are known as Marabous
Marabou (ethnicity)
Marabou is a term of Haitian origin denoting multiracial admixture. The term describes the offspring of a person of mixed race: black African/European and East Indian ancestry, born in Haiti. The East Indians arrived in Haiti from other Caribbean islands...

.

In addition to NRIs and PIOs, India's MINUSTAH contingent includes a 140-member Formed Police Unit (FPU), mainly from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), as well as 11 UN police officers and there are also about 51 Indians working with Trigyn Technologies Ltd, a Mumbai-based company that provides IT support for UN missions.

2010 Haiti earthquake

During the 2010 Haitian earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...

, many members of the Indian community have lost their homes had appealed to the Indian government to provide them financial assistance to rebuild their lives. There were about 40 Indian families scattered around the country at the time, some of whom had been living with the FPU for several days. Those who were wishing to return to India found themselves unable to do so as they couldn't get into neighbouring Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, which is the only way out of there since there were no direct commercial flights in and out of Haiti.
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