Haiti Earthquake

Question 1

Facts

Answer 1

12th January 2010 at 16:53
-7.0 magnitude on the richter scale
-Epicentre was 15km away from Port au Prince
-Focus was 13km deep
-Capital was flattened in 62 seconds
Tectonic setting:
-Occurred on the Enriquillo fault where the northern edge of the caribbean plate slips east 8cm per year
Causing movement of 2.0 meters - last major earthquake in 1770

Question 2

Short term impacts:

Answer 2

3. 5 million people affected by the earthquake
   - 222,570 deaths
   - 300,572 injuries
   - 293,383 homes damaged - 80-90% of homes in Port au Prince were destroyed
   - 4,758 schools damaged or destroyed
   - 15% of Port au Prince’s population either died or was injured
   - Houses built on hard rock near the fault survived but further away on softer sedimentary rock there was more damage
   - Capital built on sediment = amplified magnitude
   - ⅓ buildings collapsed
   - Lack of steel rods in building columns
   - 8/10 of the world’s most popular cities lie on fault zones
   - Last 100 years 2 million people have died from earthquakes ⅓ in the last 10 years

Question 3

Long term impacts

Answer 3

• Total damage $7.8bn (120% of Haiti’s GDP)
• Water sources were contaminated by rubble and dead bodies
• In 1751 there was a major earthquake then an even bigger one in 1770 followed by the deadly 1907 earthquake in Jamaica will this happen again?

Question 4

Immediate responses

Answer 4

• 450 improvised camps
• Searching was done by manually lifting rubble, no heavy lifting gear was available
• Aid agency staff looked after their own family so they were not part of any coordinated response
• 120 people were rescued from under rubble in the first 2 weeks from international search teams
• Injured survivors made their way to hospitals in Dominican Republic
• US army sent 5,000 troops and 6 military ships
• The UN launched an appeal and raised $562m to help 3 million people for 6 months
• The American response created a bottleneck at the airport blocking supplies from reaching the city

Question 5

Long term responses

Answer 5

-500 scientists from 100 organisations mapped the damage from the earthquake
-US coast guard partially re-opened Haiti’s damaged port and 4 airports
-1 year after the disaster only 5% of the rubble was cleared and 800,000 people were still in temporary accommodation
-Fraudulent elections meant that only 38% of the $1.4bn had been spent where 30% of government officials had died
1 year after 1,179 new permanent houses were built but because progress was slow some individuals rebuild their own homes using old ways, on soft soil with poor materials and a lack of reinforcement
-US engineers trained for builders
-There are voluntary guidelines for better building practice but few laws in place