The massive earthquake in Haiti hit a country that "already struggles, on a daily basis, with problems of infrastructure, health care and poverty," says a Duke University expert on the Caribbean nation.

"The United Nations and NGOs, themselves extremely hard hit by the earthquake, play important roles in security and the delivery of services," says Laurent Dubois, a Duke professor of romance studies and history who has studied Haitian history and culture for a decade.

Dubois, who was in Haiti last May, says it is crucial for global aid organizations to "find ways to work with the very robust community organizations and institutions within Haiti first to help in rescue operations and then to find ways to rebuild out of this devastation."