1.c HAITI

Question 1

what happened

Answer 1

powerful magnitude of 7 earthquake hit = caused a huge natural disaster - 220,000 people died and 300,000 were injured and 1.3 m were homeless
- many people had to go in makeshift camps in capital - overcrowding and neighbourhood effect increase spread of disease to occur

Question 2

environmental factors

Answer 2

• rainfall and flooding spread contaminated water - however that wasn’t significant factor in Haiti as some rainfall was low when earthquake hit - it was later on in Nov that hurricane Tomas caused rapid flooding - overloading casues further spread of infected water

Question 3

Human/social/ economic factors

Answer 3

• importance of artibonite river within peoples day to day lives was a major effect in why initial outbreak was so severe - common practice of rice paddy fields - reliance on river for fishing and transportation - increase exposure to contam water
• poverty - stricken nature of Haiti - sig. lack if access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation - prior to earthquake only 17% go Haitians had access to proper latrines. - contam increase by damage to infrasutruce
• large numbers of people - forced to use river for all their water needs - drinking, cooking, washing and alternative latrines
• lack of general awareness and importance of sanitation and techniques - hand washing, disposable of human water
• most medical facilities - poorly funded and in equipped to sufficiently treat epidemic of this scale - lacked space to contain spread of disease amongst their patients

Question 4

impacts of cholera

Answer 4

• earthquake earlir in the year led to high levels of internal migration = he;lped to spread the disases across country
• migrants often lived in tenprary accom increasinh likelhood of transmission as accom ralerly has access to clean water/latrines
• between oc 2010-2013 there were more than 682,,000 cases of cholera in HAiti with a total of 8,300 deaths but num coudl be high as diffcult obtaiing dat aform remote areas

Question 5

strategies used to mitigate disease

Answer 5

• large scale response from UN, aid organisations and medical relief groups - two pronged - 1st direct need to save lives
• direct treatment - implemented via specialised cholera treatment centres set up - relieved overburdened hospitals
• these programs found themselves overwhelmed with patient - so smaller centres set up to help teatc patients with less severe symptoms
• local hospitals and clinics reviewed additional training in treatment
• widespread health awareness campaign - promote hygiene - hand washing etc.