Haiti 2010 Earthquake

Question 1

Haiti background information

Answer 1

1.Population: 9.954 million (2011)
2. Population density: 361 per km²
3. Least developed nation in western hemisphere: HDI of 0.454 (2011) (ranked 158/187) with a life expectancy of 61.6 years (2011) GDP per capita $1172.10 (2011)

Question 2

Date, time and Location

Answer 2

Date: January 12th 2010
Time: 4:53 PM (local time)
Epicentre: Leogane (15km South-West from Port-Au-Prince)

Question 3

Earthquake information

Answer 3

Plates: Conservative plate boundary between Caribbean and North American plate
Magnitude: 7.0 ( Richter scale)
Duration: 35 seconds with after shocks as strong as 6.1 magnitude occurring up to 2 weeks later

Question 4

Social Impacts

Answer 4

1. 222,500 killed
2. Roughly 300,000 injured
3. 1.5 million made homeless
4. 800,000 forced to live 450 outdoor improvised camps. Only 40% of which provided improvised shelter material and only 3 supplied potable water
5. 80-90% of buildings in Leogane were destroyed
6. UN lost its HQ and 80-100 staff
7. Many civic offices in Port-Au-Prince destroyed

Question 5

Economic impacts

Answer 5

1.Estimated cost of damages: $7.8 to $8.5 billion (could be as high as $13 billion)
2. Haiti’s GDP shrank by 5.1%

Question 6

Governance

Answer 6

1. 25% of civil servants killed
2. Constructors used brittle steel, weak cement and reinforcement rods with terminated joints
3. US sent 5,500 troops from 6 ships - this created a bottleneck at the port - slowing aid from other countries.
4. Hospitals in the Dominican Republic tended to the wounded
5. World Bank suspended all payments on Haiti’s debt for 5 years
6. World Food Programme supplied 14 million ration packs
7. Hop for Haiti raised $54 million, UN launched an appeal for $562 million

Question 7

Summary

Answer 7

Haiti was very vulnerable due to many factors including: It’s high population density, lack of preparedness ( due to last earthquake being in 1770 meaning no living memory) and its low development. Additionally, Haiti’s capacity to cope was very low partially becuase of its low development (meaning corrupt government) but also becuase the event destroyed governemnt building and killed civil servants preventing an effectve response. This resulted in this tectonic hazard becoming a disaster of such proportion.