Rebuilding Haiti could cost up to $14 billion, which would make last month's earthquake the most destructive natural disaster in modern history, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said Tuesday. The figure for reconstructing homes, schools, streets, and other infrastructure in Haiti came in a report by the Washington-based Western Hemispheric development bank assessing the damage from the January 12 disaster. The report said damage was estimated at between $8 billion and $14 billion, which factoring in Haiti's population and weak economy, would make it the most destructive disaster in modern history. The IDB assessment came five weeks after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated parts of the Caribbean country of 9 million, already the poorest in the Western Hemisphere before the disaster. The earthquake killed at least 210,000 people and left the capital, Port-au-Prince, largely in ruins.
