Top-end estimates on immediate deaths from the earthquake are as high as 500,000. Granted, these estimates aren’t scientific and we may never know the true death toll as bodies will need to be buried before any coordinated counting can occur. When bandying about perspective death tolls, however, what too many reports omit is their relative size to the Haitian population, which is around 9 million. Accordingly, if the 500,000 death toll is accurate, more than 5 percent of the country died. In addition, a huge proportion of children will become orphans, a situation that will affect generations.