 In the nights following the earthquake , many people in Haiti slept in the streets , on <unk> , in their cars , or in makeshift <unk> towns either because their houses had been destroyed , or they feared standing structures would not withstand aftershocks . Construction standards are low in Haiti ; the country has no building codes . Engineers have stated that it is unlikely many buildings would have stood through any kind of disaster . Structures are often raised wherever they can fit ; some buildings were built on slopes with insufficient foundations or steel supports . A representative of Catholic Relief Services has estimated that about two million Haitians lived as squatters on land they did not own . The country also suffered from shortages of fuel and <unk> water even before the disaster . 
