Haitian community leaders in Miami are holding a vigil Monday afternoon to mark 16 years since the massive earthquake that devastated the Caribbean island nation.
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, and left 220,000 people dead, 300,000 injured and rubble nearly everywhere.
Monday’s vigil is being organized by the Family Action Network Movement (FANM) and other groups. It is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at the Toussaint Louverture Memorial Statue, 6136 N. Miami Avenue.
A moment of silence will be observed at 4:53 p.m., the exact time the earthquake struck the country. It will be followed with a procession to the Little Haiti Cultural Center, 5925 NE 2nd Avenue.
FANM and other organizers also want to use the vigil to call attention to the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitians. TPS ends Feb. 3.
The administration announced last month it was ending TPS for 500,000 Haitian migrants — despite new reports from organizations like the U.N. that say conditions inside Haiti are as unsafe as they've ever been.
TPS was created by Congress and is renewable every 18 months at executive discretion. It allows migrants from countries torn by disasters or political violence to remain in the U.S., protected from deportation, until it is deemed OK for them to go back.
TPS for Haitians was conferred in the wake of Haiti's catastrophic 2010 earthquake. Since then it has been renewed and expanded largely due to Haiti's collapsed public security.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: FANM 16th Annual Earthquake Vigil
WHEN: Monday, January 12, 2026 at 3 p.m.
WHERE: Toussaint Louverture Memorial Statue, 6136 N. Miami Ave.
