Penn compares Port-au-Prince to Detroit

This magazine cover image released by Esquire shows actor and activist Sean Penn on the cover of the January 2013 issue of "Esquire." The issue will be available nationwide on Dec. 18. (AP Photo/Esquire)

Text:

The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, December 12, 2012 3:17PM EST

NEW YORK -- As the three-year mark approaches of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed, injured and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, actor- activist Sean Penn describes life in the country's capital city.

In the January issue of Esquire magazine, Penn compares Port-au-Prince to Detroit, saying, "It's not more dangerous, it's not less dangerous."

Penn founded a relief organization in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He still spends about half his time there.

The two-time Oscar winner says a child with a fever in the U.S. gets medicine, a cold bath, or a trip to the emergency room. In Haiti, he says, parents wait "to see if he's going to die or not."

The January issue of Esquire goes on sale Dec. 18.