Haiti Earthquake

• Haiti background

  • 12th January 2010
  • earthquake
  • located where Caribbean and North American plates slide past eachother in an Eastward direction
  • slip fault follows and conservative plate margins
  • magnitude of 7
  • epicentre was 24km south west of port-au-prince
  • focus of 13km
• Haiti secondary impacts

  • strong aftershocks - one with a magnitude of 6.1
  • government crippled - loss of hundreds of civil servants, destruction of ministries
  • police force devastated
  • prison destroyed
  • city became lawless
  • 1 year after cholera had killed 1500 people and 1.5 million still homeless
  • 4000 prison inmates escaped
  • bodies had to be buried in large communal graves
  • 8000 died in a cholera outbreak
• Haiti causes

  Caribbean and North America7n plates were jammed as only moved 7mm since last earthquake in 1751 so pressure release resulted in earthquake
• Haiti primary impacts

  • over 230,000 lives lost
  • 50% of concrete buildings collapse including police headquarters and parliament
  • 180,000 homes damaged
  • 1.5 million made homeless
  • 600,000 left Port-au-Prince
  • 5000 schools damaged
  • liquefaction caused buildings to subside
  • infrastructure damaged - ports, roads and buildings
  • 300 schools destroyed
• Haiti short term responses

  • survivors rescued from debris and roads cleared
  • US military took control of airport to speed up aid distribution and piers reopened
  • 16,000 troops and police restored law and order
  • UN world food programme provided food and supported farmers
  • DEC provided bottled water and purification tablets for over 250,000 people
  • DEC provided over 100,000 health consultations and 3000 toilets
  • 1.5 million homeless accommodated for in 110 camps but in the form of tarpaulins
• Haiti long term responses

  • Haiti relief fund gave $11.5 billion reconstruction package with controls to prevent corruption but due to be completed by 2020
  • farming sector reformed to encourage self sufficiency and less reliance on imports
  • emphasis on follow up healthcare and mental health
  • hospitals, schools and government buildings rebuilt to life saving building codes
  • local people employed as construction workers
  • houses became more affordable, safe and sustainable