Haati case study

• • Haati is a very poor country in Central America
  • it is the location of many natural disasters
• • Earthquake occurred at 4:53pm
  • Magnitude of 7EQ
• • Caribbean and North American plates-conservative plate margin
  • Hit the capital, Port au Prince
  • Many fault lines in the area- where plates stick and then jolt
  • It had a shallow focus-close to the surface
• Primary responses:

  • collect dead bodies to prevent the spread of diseases
  • UK sent rescue teams and USA sent 10,000 troops
  • Charities like oxfam handed out food
  • Public donates millions
  • Medical teams treated injured in temporary field hospitals
• Primary impacts:

  • 300,000 injured
  • 230,000 deaths
  • Schools hospitals and police stations destroyed
  • Electricity, gas, water and communication links destroyed
  • Roads and bridges destroyed
  • $10 billion damage
• Secondary impacts:

  • Many without basic food water and clothing
  • Re buildingis harder due to power lines being down
  • Looting and violence to get provisions
  • 1.5 million homeless
  • Months of being homeless and sleeping on the streets
  • 20,000 businesses lost
  • Probably take around a decade to rebuild port au prince
• Secondary responses:

  • Locales helped charities with rebuilding projects
  • Money pledged by people globally was put towards rebuilding
  • Still 1,300 camps after 1 year
  • Cash for work programs paying Haitians to clear rubble
  • Small farmers supported so crops can still be grown
  • Schools rebuilt so education isn’t heavily impacted
• Why was the disaster so severe?

  • Epicentre very close to the capital
  • Shallow focus earthquakes meaning energy close to the surface
  • Large magnitude- 7.0
  • Buildings were weak and not built to withstand a strong earthquake
  • Haiti is an LIC
  • Huge sums of money has been spent re building after hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike (which causes 800 deaths in 2008) meaning they’re wernet the resources to be well prepared