Haiti as a multi hazardous environment

Question 1

What is a multi-hazardous environment?

Answer 1

A location which is at risk of experiencing two or more hazards. Otherwise known as a disaster hotspot. They are usually highly vulnerable and sometimes ill-prepared despite experiencing hazards often.

Question 2

Background of Haiti’s risk- World Bank Natural Disaster Hotspot study

Answer 2

-According to the World Bank’s Natural Disaster Hotspot study, the countries at relatively high mortality risk from multiple hazards, Haiti is ranked at number 6th most vulnerable.
-Other countries include Bangladesh and Nepal, all of these countries suffer from more than n one type of natural disaster, are lower income, located near plate boundaries, large rivers or coasts and experience tropical storms.

Question 3

Background of Haitis development

Answer 3

-Haiti is the poorest and least developed country in the Western Hemisphere, but the situation is slowly improving.
-This has contributed to its vulnerability to natural hazards, but also the hazard impacts and responses in a sort of vicious cycle, where authorities are consistently unable to effectively prepare for and manage hazards, relying on billions in foreign aid each time.

Question 4

Haiti disasters since 2004

Answer 4

Haiti has experienced 12 major disasters since 2004, with a cumulative death toll of 235,000.
-The most prominent being the 2010 earthquake- 3.7 million were affected and 223,000 deaths, 2016 hurricane Mathew- 580 deaths and 1.1 million affected.

Question 5

Physical factors affecting vulnerability (4)

Answer 5

1) Located on a conservative plate margin; where the North American plate is sliding past the caribbean plate; huge seismic risk.
2) Unusually shaped land mass; contributes to vulnerability due to limited accessibility to southern and northern peninsula towns.
3) Hilly topography; increasing risk of landslides and mudslides
4) Falls directly in the track of many hurricanes and tropical storms

Question 6

Human factors affecting vulnerability (5)

Answer 6

1) Poor quality housing
2) High levels of poverty
3) Population concentrated in low-lying flood- prone coastal areas- population densities up to 40,000 per km2 in Port au Prince.
4) Constant political instability and corruption, unable to prepare effectively
5) Poor healthcare and sanitation- further epidemic outbreaks (chlorella)

Question 7

Resilience, adaptation and mitigation in Haiti (NDRMS)

Answer 7

-In 2001, the National Disaster Risk Management System (NDRMS) was set up to transition from a ‘living risk’ to a ‘living with risk’ approach to natural hazards, improve resilience and reduce fatalistic mindsets.
-The NDRMS has worked towards:
-A national natural hazard and disaster vulnerability map completed in association with Oxfam to help in disaster planning and preparation.
-The development of an Emergency Operations centre where civil servants can manage disasters.
-Expanding the number of weather monitoring stations across the island so that the National Meteorological centre (NMC) can supplement data provided by the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service forecasts. Forecasting can provide vital time for people to prepare or evacuate.