Hazardous Earth

• Earthquake struck Haiti

  12 January 2010, 4.53 p.m.
• Earthquake

  • Magnitude 7.0
  • Caused by contraction and deformation along a fault near the conservative plate boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate
  • Epicentre 25 km south-west of Port-au-Prince
  • Focus very shallow (13 km below surface)
• Aftershocks of magnitudes between 5.5 and 6.0 occurred in the days following the earthquake
• Primary impacts

  Most destructive earthquakes ever
• Primary impacts

  • 316,000 deaths estimated by Haitian government
  • 300,000 injured
  • 3 million people affected
  • 1.5 million made homeless
  • 180,000 homes destroyed
  • All 8 hospitals collapsed or badly damaged
  • 5000 schools damaged or destroyed
  • 3 universities collapsed
  • 19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris created
  • 1 prison collapsed, 4000 inmates escaped
  • Port and airport control tower severely damaged, hindering emergency efforts and aid supply
  • Electricity, water, sanitation and communications badly disrupted or destroyed
• Secondary impacts

  • Cholera spread through squatter camps
  • Economic losses increased due to closed factories and stopped tourism
  • Looting and crime increased as government and police force collapsed
• Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean
• Haiti was unprepared for such an event and could not respond adequately to the disaster
• Response and management of the Haiti earthquake

  1. International aid in form of search-and-rescue teams flown in

  2. Food, water, medical supplies and temporary shelters brought in from USA and Dominican Republic

  3. American engineers and divers cleared the port

  4. UN and US troops provided security and helped distribute aid
• Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)

  UK organisation that raised over £100 million for emergency relief after the 2010 Haiti earthquake
• The £100 million raised by the DEC was used to provide emergency shelters, medication, bottled water and purification tablets, and sanitation
• The 2010 Haiti earthquake was one of the first where social media and GIS played a significant role in identifying damage and organising relief and recovery
• The EU, USA and UK pledged $100 million, $100 million and £20 million respectively to Haiti after the earthquake
• The World Bank cancelled Haiti's debt repayments for five years after the earthquake
• By 2013, less than half of the $4.5 billion pledged had reached Haiti
• Oxfam estimated that by 2015 there were still 500,000 homeless people in Haiti without water, sewage systems or electricity
• A cholera epidemic began 10 months after the earthquake, killing over 8000 people and infecting 6% of all Haitians by 2013
• Longer-term responses after the earthquake

  1. The government moved 235,000 people from Port-au-Prince to less damaged cities

  2. Three-quarters of the damaged buildings were inspected and repaired, using earthquake-resistant techniques

  3. 200,000 people were paid or received food for public work, such as clearing away the tonnes of rubble
• Money was pledged by individuals and governments around the world, including 300 million euros