Hazards: Multi-Hazardous Case Study - Haiti

Question 1

What is a multi-hazardous environment?

Answer 1

An area that is vulnerable to two or more hazards, usually of different origins (geophysical or hydro-meteorological)

Question 2

When did Haiti gain independence from France?

Answer 2

1804
- 1825 —> agreed to compensate France ($28bn in todays money)

Question 3

What happened in 2004?

Answer 3

Major hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne

Question 4

What happened in 2008?

Answer 4

4 major hurricanes (Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike)

Question 5

What happened in 2010?

Answer 5

Earthquake killing 230,000 people

Question 6

What happened in 2016?

Answer 6

Hurricane Matthew

Question 7

What happened in 2021?

Answer 7

President assassinated and another major earthquake

Question 8

What happened in 2024?

Answer 8

Gang violence leading to president resigning - no functioning government

Question 9

What are some of the environmental risks for Haiti?

Answer 9

• small island nation in warm waters of Caribbean Sea - storm belt
• people living on undesirable land, e.g. flood-risk areas
• high levels of soil erosion
• situated on a transform (conservative) plate boundary (N American and Caribbean plate)
• widespread deforestation
• steep topography

Question 10

What are some of the economic risks in Haiti?

Answer 10

• unemployment rate is 75%
• foreign aid accounts for 30-40% of the governments budget
• little to no spending on storm defences and evacuation centres let alone aseismic designed buildings
• 58% of Haitians live in poverty, with national GDP per capita at $1400

Question 11

What are some of the social risks for Haiti?

Answer 11

• large scale rural-urban migration
• lack of drainage sewage and sanitation infrastructure (e.g. pipes and sewers)
• 2/5 adults are illiterate- with the rate much higher in rural areas
• poorly-built hillside slums in the capital, Port au Prince
• high population density in slums of Port-au-Prince
• 66% of Haitians work in agriculture
• Haiti has two fire stations in the entire country
• building regulations are rarely enforced and bribery of inspectors is rife
• 10% of people live in self-built housing

Question 12

What are some of the political risks in Haiti?

Answer 12

• high levels of political instability and corruption - no effective government for decades

Question 13

What are the natural hazard occurrences in Haiti from 1980-2020?

Answer 13

• almost 50% of hazards is flooding
• over 25% of the hazards are storms

Question 14

What is resilience?

Answer 14

The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

Question 15

What does resilience depend upon?

Answer 15

• the nature and probability of the hazards (Haiti is in a common hazard zone, hazards happen frequently)
• ability to predict/plan/prepare/prevent/mitigate (Haiti is an LIC, has no money and no functioning government)
• ability to recover and rebuilt (also a problem for Haiti, due to lack of money and lack of government)

—> World Bank have made investments in strengthening Haiti’s disaster resilience

Question 16

How is Haiti adapting to the risk of hazards?

Answer 16

• relies heavily on NGOs and exogenous help - $14 billion in international aid flowed into Haiti after the 2010 earthquake
• Government set up the Housing and Public Buildings Construction Unit (UCLBP), which established construction codes and offered training sessions for stonemasons to try to reduce the risks when the next disaster came.
• funding for the Bureau of Mines and Energy, charged with overseeing earthquake surveillance

Question 17

How is Haiti preparing for future hazards?

Answer 17

• preparedness drills have become more regular, new and better shelters have been built and hundreds of volunteers have been trained to help with evacuations
• in 2020, the gov formalised its National Risk and Disaster Management Plan, which includes prevention measures and emergency protocols for disasters
• more educational outreach
• some schools are also now doubling as shelters for disasters

Question 18

What are some of the reasons Haiti has struggled to build back better after the 2010 earthquake?

Answer 18

• lurched from crisis to crisis, periods of political instability, gov leaders accused of corruption, crippling protests, deadly hurricanes and now a political vacuum triggered by the assassination of the president Jovenel Moise
• gang violence and kidnappers have been rampant, causing fuel, food and water shortages and forcing several hospitals to close.
• lack of investment in disaster risk reduction measures - both from gov and international donors - continues to leave the Caribbean nation of 11.4 million people dangerously exposed
• construction codes ignored as builders struggle to afford quality materials - also no enforcement for new building codes
• lacks enough sensors to precisely map and better understand seismic risk. Some of the sensors and seismic equipment are also not connected to a national or regional network
• lacks a multi-layered early warning system