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Even before the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haiti was known for its poverty and corruption. Laurent Dubois discusses the maligned and misunderstood nation that has long been blamed by many for its own wretchedness. In Haiti: The Aftershock of History, he shows that Haiti's troubles can only be understood by examining its complex past.

Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake. The 7.0 magnitude quake devastated the capital city, Port-au-Prince, and Haiti’s government estimates the death toll was more than 316,000 people. An international outpouring of support followed, with NGOs, human rights organizations, and the first mass text-based fundraising campaign bolstering the island nation. A little less than a year after the earthquake, an outbreak of cholera further devastated the country and set back relief efforts. So what has and hasn't been accomplished in the time since?

Lawyers representing the families of thousands of people who died of cholera in Haiti are planning to sue the United Nations for wrongful death. The lawyers say U.N. peacekeeper troops inadvertently brought cholera to Haiti from Nepal after the 2010 earthquake that decimated the country. Since the cholera outbreak began in 2010, nearly 7,000 people have died and over 500,000 have been infected. The BBC's Mark Doyle has been in Haiti investigating the situation and filed this report.

Dr. Paul Farmer discusses the massive earthquake that destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2010, killing hundreds of thousands of people. In Haiti After the Earthquake, Farmer describes the suffering and resilience he encountered while treating the injured in Haiti. He explores the social problems that made Haiti so vulnerable to the earthquake—the issues he says make it an "unnatural disaster."

On this week’s Underreported, Dan Coughlin, reporter for The Nation magazine, Kim Ives, editor for Haiti Liberté, discuss what the WikiLeaks cables reveal about American diplomatic attitudes toward Haiti – both before and after the devasting earthquake there in 2010. A new series of reports about the 1,918 cables that relate to Haiti is being published in a partnership between The Nation and the Haiti Liberté newspaper.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as Baby Doc, returned to Haiti on Sunday after spending nearly 25 years in exile in France. Duvalier became president of Haiti in 1971 when his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier died. Baby Doc was known for torturing his opponents, and was accused of massive embezzlement; many considered him more of a dictator than a president. A popular revolt overthrew Baby Doc in 1986, ending nearly three decades of Duvalier rule. What are the implications of Baby Doc's return to the country in unstable times? Does the former leader return to lend aid or grasp political opportunity?

Dan Reed, producer of the Frontline documentary “Battle for Haiti” talks about the more than 4,000 prisoners who escaped from the National Penitentiary during last year’s earthquake, the struggling police effort to recapture them, life in the tent cities where they hide, and the politicians who rely on them to get elected. “Battle for Haiti” airs January 11, at 9 pm, on PBS.

Things aren't going too well for Wyclef Jean.

A story in today's New York Times takes a closer look at musician Wyclef Jean's bid to be Haiti's next president. Jean's relief organization set up for the country in 2005, Yele Haiti Foundation, was called into question this past winter, when reports found that money given to the foundation for the country's poor was poorly accounted for. But now he has stepped down from the organization to run for president of the country.

Geological events mark their evidence in rock and the position of the earth’s crust. The earthquake becomes a part of the geological identity of a place. Geology is its own narrative and it unfolds very slowly… literally in geological time for the estimated million people still waiting for help. We have a built-in sense that people bounce back from disasters. But perhaps to even look at Haiti six months after as though it is a long time is absurd. It says more about our attention span than it says about Haiti itself. Just as the presence of President Obama on the beaches of Alabama is more likely to produce a headline than the presence of oil that same beach would, it’s our attention span that is the story.

The “headline-breaking-news all-urgency-all-the-time” model of news coverage makes it very difficult to establish the narrative line to give a complex story like Haiti’s aftermath the day-to-day focus it needs. Each tree ring tells a story in the long-term record of life on earth.

July 12 will mark the six-month anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Aine Fay, acting country director for Concern Worldwide, gives us an update on efforts to rebuild the city and house the thousands of people who have been homeless since January.

American conservators are helping Haitians salvage their heritage from the rubble of churches and museums.

The United Nations and the United States are hosting a conference today on paying for rebuilding in Haiti after the earthquake. Haitian President Rene Preval is expected to present a report on his country's needs, and the amount he's asking for may break records. Also on the table will be a vision for Haiti in the near future. The estimated cost over the next ten years? $11.5 billion. 

With two full days down, I continue to be struck by the incredible mix of everyday miracles and frustrating setbacks here.

On Sunday, I watched an airlift transfer of an earthquake victim who is paralyzed from the waist down. Her name is Marilynn. She's 32 years old and has three daughters. This was her fourth trip on a helicopter since the earthquake, she told me. This latest transport would take her from the hospital in Milot, where she had surgery last week to stabilize her spine, to a spinal cord clinic that's opened in a town about 10 miles away. The road, though, was too rugged to keep her healing back immobile en route, so she took the trip in by air.

All this week on The Takeaway, we've been asking listeners to weigh in on what Haiti needs from the international community in order to move on from the devastating earthquake that struck two months ago. A few listeners homed in on one particular issue: jobs.

Even after you restore safety and security, how do you begin to rebuild? Haitian President Rene Preval will meet with President Barack Obama in Washington today to discuss what Haiti needs two months after the earthquake that devasted large swathes of the country. Along with severe damages to infrastructure in the wake of the disaster, Haitians are trying to deal with economic issues — some of them pre-existent — brought into sharp relief by the quake. We're checking in with two people who have a birds-eye view of Haitian need, and how it interacts with that country's economy, past and future. 

Adoptive parents will meet the orphans and their chaperones when they land in Miami today.

Two missionaries, Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter, are being held for questioning for a 2009 trip to Haiti.

Three years. That's how long Haiti's President Rene Preval is estimating it will take to clear the rubble after January's quake.

The U.S. is scaling back its military presence in Haiti to 13,000 troops, from 20,000, according to The Associated Press.