Also on this day

The National Trust is founded.

Agatha Christie, pictured, dies.

More than 350 are killed in a stampede at the Stoning Of The Devil ritual at the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

million people left homeless in an instant. A wrecked infrastructure caused critical delays to aid arriving, leading to looting across the area.

Thousands of prisoners had escaped from the damaged prison, adding to the atmosphere of anarchy. Corpses were stacked in the street or buried in mass graves. By late 2010 cholera had broken out. A definitive death toll from the quake is impossible to calculate but estimates range from 85,000 to more than 300,000.

International aid did eventually reach the area, but reconstruction was painfully slow. It took a year to even begin removing the rubble. Two years on, more than half a million were still living in tents. It was seven years before Haiti's major hospital re-opened. Just last year there was still rubble visible in the streets.

A decade on and the country remains traumatised by the disaster. Recent political unrest has caused further unease. But with its unique culture, spectacular landscapes and resilient people, there is always hope that this jewel of the Caribbean will regain its gleam.

Question: Which boxer, born this day 1944, was Muhammad Ali’s opponent in a trio of fights ending with the Thrilla in Manila? Last week I asked: Which Samuel Beckett play did Vladimir and Estragon appear in? The answer is WAITING FOR GODOT.