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havre itself translates to haven, but I doubt the sentence below literally refers to "haven of life":
Nous étions très surpris que ce havre de vie presque éternelle se trouve précisément à Okinawa, où 200000 innocents perdirent la vie à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Is this an expression that refers to something more precise?
The original meaning of "havre" is indeed a haven, a harbour. By extension, it takes in French the meaning of place of refuge or place of comfort. This is used to characterize a location where one feels safe and well. With this meanng, it has also, as I understand it, an overtone of remoteness.
Havre de vie is a bit like "sanctuary of life".
A similar French expression is havre de paix.
