Case Study: Earthquake - Haiti

• When


  12th January 2010, 4:53pm
• Factors affecting vulnerability


  • 86% of Port au Prince live in slum conditions
  • Only 50% have access to latrines in Port au Prince and only 33% had access to clean tap water
  • Poor building codes, houses had no earthquake resistance
  • Located in a seismically active region
  • Lack of coherent emergency plan
  • Lack of public awareness on what to do in the event of an earthquake. Most people would have had no living memory of a large earthquake
  • Massive rural-urban migration so few employment opportunities
  • Unemployment rate as high as 90%
  • Not fully recovered from the 2008 hurricane
  • Poor governance at a local and national scale (corruption)
  • Shortage of trained healthcare workers and a underfunded healthcare system
• NGO response to the disaster

  1. Lack of coordination due to no emergency plan and UN losing personnel

  2. Many NGOs flew in without investigating survivors' needs

  3. Few NGOs spoke French, making it difficult to know what people wanted

  4. Duplication of aid in some areas, while other areas received no aid

  5. Most NGOs operated in a top-down way, delivering what they thought was needed
• Problems in the camps

  • Few camps had competent managers
  • Issues with water supply and sanitation
  • Drinking water delivered only once a week, leading to consumption of untreated water
  • Serious problem of rape and sexual attacks in the camps
  • Women and girls vulnerable in tents that could be easily broken into
  • Little privacy at latrines and washing facilities
  • Camps badly lit at night and no policing
  • Girls as young as 10 reported as being attacked
  • At least 1/10th of households in temporary accommodation reported a member going through some form of sexual assault
• Cholera outbreak


  1. First case identified in October 2010

  2. Government declared an outbreak on 21st October

  3. Haiti had been cholera-free for over 100 years

  4. Strain brought by Nepalese UN peacekeeping force

  5. Spread quickly due to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene

  6. By November 2011, 6,900 deaths and more than 5,000 reported cases
• Homes destroyed


  Loss of the safety they provided
• Destruction of culturally and religiously significant buildings

  Could destroy communities
• Presidential palace


  Symbolises a defining moment in national history and represents freedom
• Cathedrals destroyed


  Symbolise the country's religious beliefs and connection to God
• Building contained murals of biblical characters depicted with black skin
• Destruction of these buildings could be seen as part of their belief being destroyed, described by one resident as 'disorientating'
• Primary effects


  • 316,000 killed (over 200,000)
  • 250,000 homes and 30,000 other buildings destroyed
  • 70% of buildings collapsed
  • 30+ hospitals and 1,300 schools badly damaged
  • Petit-Groave bridge destroyed
  • 60% of infrastructure destroyed
  • 1.5 million made homeless (3 million affected)
  • Main prison destroyed and 4,000 inmates escaped
  • One section of the UN headquarters collapsed leaving 102 dead
• Secondary effects


  • 1 in 5 people lost their jobs
  • GDP fell by 5.1%
  • Large numbers of deaths meant hospitals and morgues became full and bodies had to be piled up on the street
  • This increased the risk of the spread of infectious diseases
  • It was difficult to get aid to the area due to issues at the airport and generally poor management
  • Nepalese aid workers spread cholera
• Immediate responses

  • Dominican Republic sent supplies of water, food and heavy lifting machinery, they also made their own hospitals available and permitted people to cross the border to receive help
  • Iceland had an emergency response team in the country within 24hrs
  • $100 million in aid given by the USA
  • $330 million given from the EU
  • 115,000 tents and 1 million tarpaulin shelters provided
  • 4.3 million provided with food rations in the weeks following
  • Lack of immediate aid through poor planning, management and access meant people had to try and help themselves and rescue each other
• Long term responses


  • By July 2010, 98% of the rubble remained uncleared
  • 1.6 million were still living in temporary camps in July 2010 though this fell to 1 million by September
  • World Bank cancelled half of Haiti's debt and gave them 5 years before beginning repayment
  • Cash for work programmes set up to enable some Haitians to support themselves
  • World Bank funded schools for 140,000 children within the camps