earthquake HAITI case study Flashcards
when was it
2010
where was it
Haiti
epicentre was
25km away from capital
Causes: plates and type of plate margin:
Conservative plate boundary
the Caribbean plate is shifting by about 20 mm a year relative to the North American plate
Divergent plate margin
This fault had been ‘locked’ for 250 years, gathering stress, so that when this earthquake happened, the rupture in the fault was 65 km long, with a slippage of 1 meter
The focus of the January Earthquake was about 13 km below the Earth’s surface on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault
epicentre was where
in port au prince
magnitude
7
how many aftershocks of how much
52 measuring 4.5+
how many people affected
3.5 million
short term impacts
The primary hazard of the earthquake, the shaking ground, caused secondary hazards such as collapsing buildings, and food and water shortages due to the damage and disruption
Electricity supplies were disrupted
Roads were blocked (the main road between Port-au-Prince and Jacmel was still blocked
10 days after the earthquake)
The international airport was unusable due to control-tower damage
The public telephone system was knocked out, with no signal for mobile phones and no internet
long term impacts
People took sleeping to the streets, on pavements or in cars because their homes had been flattened, or they feared remaining buildings would collapse due to aftershocks Because of the lack of building regulations buildings are put up wherever they will fit in, without proper foundations
About 2 million Haitians live as squatters on land they do not own
Even before the earthquake Haiti suffered from shortages of fuel and drinking water After the quake there was major confusion, even though President Rene Preval and his ministers met with UN planners every day
A few days after the earthquake the government handed control of the airport to US authorities to try to speed up aid effort, but some aircraft with potentially life-saving supplies still had to be turned away.
Delays in aid distribution led to looting and occasional violence
response
Due to the port being damaged, aid was slow to arrive.
The USA sent rescue teams and 10,000 troops.
Bottled water and purification tablets were provided.
235,000 people were moved away from Port-au-Prince to less-damaged cities.
£20 million was donated by The UK government.
Why was this earthquake so deadly?
was only 25km away from port au prince and had a huge seismic force, creating a huge amount of chaos and damage.
