Case study- Haiti Flashcards
Background
Jan 2010- magnitude of 7.0 stuck island and Haiti is already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Epicentre located 25km west of capital Port-au-Prince
Risks/vulnerability
Lies between NA and Caribbean plates. People are very vulnerable when hazard events occur as it has a long history with national debt and extreme poverty.
Impacts
Reliable estimates of death toll estimated at 160,000. Estimated 2.3 million made homeless. Over 250,000 residences were destroyed and a reason for this was that the construction standards were low and the country had no building codes. All hospitals in Port-au-Prince were destroyed. Breakdown of law/order and looting was widespread. The collapse of basic water supplies, lack of basic sanitation and thousands of unburied bodies led to spread of disease. Approx. 8,000 died from spread of cholera.
Response
A major relief programme was directed towards disaster but agencies had extreme difficulties in dealing with aftermath- country had little heavy lifting equipment so difficult to look for survivor. US immediately responded deploying 3,500 soldiers and UK sent a large search and rescue team with dogs. One difficult task was the removal of dead bodies the number was so big that they had to be buried in communal graves
Aftermath/today
By 2014- 170,000 still in displacement camps and 70% lacked access to electricity and 600,000 were said to be food insecure. Final cost of the event was said to be $8 billion
