Pakistan Assessment: Why did so many people die in the Pakistan Earthquake? On 8th October 2005, a devastating earthquake struck at the town of Muzaffarabad in Kashmir located in the country of Pakistan at about 8:50 am in the morning. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale, affecting millions of people. Figures have shown that about 88,710 people died, 106,266 people were injured and up to three million became homeless and without proper shelter. There were many reasons why so many people died in the Pakistan Earthquake.
The epicentre was a town named Leogane; about 19km (12 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, thousands were left homeless and up to 80-90% of buildings in Leogane were destroyed. The quake was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitudes. It was the worst earthquake to hit the Caribbean island in 2 centuries. The island lies on the Enriquilla-Plantain Garden Fault however it was caused by an interaction between the North American and Caribbean Plates. After which the barely noticed island became the centre of the world’s news channels, it became one of the most noticed natural disasters in history with celebrities and normal people alike doing allsorts to raise money and aid for the victims of the quake.
The run-off from higher elevation combined with melt water from lower elevation was so forceful it broke levees and caused one of the most damaging floods the region has ever seen. The West Walker River caused extensive damage in Topaz, Coleville, California, Wellington and Nevada. It’s estimated that twelve miles of US Highway 395 have been destroyed and are going to be closed for around seven months! In Yerington and in the Mason Valley nearly 500 homes have been damaged and public and private property damaged substantially. Floodwaters deposited debris on Farmland and Damaged irrigation gates, ditches and canals.
According to Pete Garrat, the Red Cross head of disaster relief, the most lethal combination of all of the factors contributing to the huge death toll, was location of the epicentre and the density of the population in heavily urbanised and poverty stricken areas nearby. In the region of Haiti affected by the Earthquake over 72% of the population were living on less than two American dollars a day, due to this majority of the population were housed in overcrowded shantytowns and poorly constructed buildings, constructed using poor building practices and outdated materials. As there had been no previous disasters of this type, Haitians were poorly educated on what to do during an earthquake, and the building standards were much less than those being used now, following the earthquake. Following the earthquake more than 50% of Port au Princes’ population were left homeless and 316,000 were reported to have died or are still missing. 3) What were some of the key responses by the international community in the days and weeks following the disaster?
Hurricane Sandy destroyed millions of homes, brought a bunch of sand onto the roads, and killed 209 people. Sandy caused $52.4 billion in damages. Another hurricane that has hit the US is Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina caused subsequent floods and caused $81 billion in damaged. Katrina also killed at least 1,833 people in the time that it took to cross most of eastern North America.
Haiti Earthquake 2010 The earthquake in Haiti occurred on the 12th of January 2010 16:53 local time around 25km from Haiti’s capitol Port au Prince the earthquake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale making it one of the most devastating earthquakes this . Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere with around 80% of the population living in extreme poverty. Access to healthcare in Haiti is almost non-existent more than 60% of the population has access to basic healthcare because of this disease is rampant. Most building in Haiti are structurally unsound meaning when the earthquake hit these houses crumbled to rubble leaving many people trapped. In February 2010 Prime Minister Jean estimated that 250,000 residencies and 30,000commercial buildings were severely damaged and needed to be demolished.
The Haitian government estimates that 230,000 people died, about 300,000 were injured and 1 million were made homeless out of a population of 10 million. 250,000 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged. For any country, this would have been a major disaster. However, as a very poor nation, Haiti didn’t have the resources of money to help themselves, therefore, the relied heavily on international aid. On Tuesday 17 January 1995 at 5:46, the Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake hit Kobe, Japan, and it was not only powerful (7.2 magnitude on the Richter scale), but with the epicentre only 20 km southwest
When the storm struck New Orleans and the levees failed, the low-lying lands flooded at record levels. As only a category 3 storm, Hurricane Katrina could have caused much less damage then it did if the levees held. The reason for the levee failure was due to an engineering fault, leaving the levees prone to malfunction. Tens of thousands of victims were either forced from their homes due to the flooding, or lost their lives trying to ride out the storm. The impoverished areas of New Orleans suffered the greatest losses because the houses were poorly built and many people were not educated on the danger of the coming storm.
| 1 in 5 people lost their jobs because many buildings were destroyed, Haiti’s large industry clothing was one of the worst affected, and were a lot of people lost their jobs. | 250,000 homes, 30,000 other building were either destroyed or badly damaged this included the presidents palace and around 60% of the government buildings. | Because of the large number of deaths the hospitals reached their capacity and bodies had to be piled up out on the streets. | Transport and communication links were badly damaged and destroyed, things like bridges. | The amount of bodies out on the street caused a lot of diseases to spread, diseases like, cholera.
As these two plates attempt to pass one another friction causes them to get stuck and over a period of time, pressure builds up, this pressure is released as one plate suddenly jerks past the other, with the resultant force sending shockwaves to the earth’s surface. The earthquake was caused by a slip along an existing fault in this area, the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault. As a direct result of the Haiti earthquake 220,000 people were killed, while 300,000 others were injured and 1.8 million Haitian became displaced. However it was hard to treat those injured as 8 hospitals and healthcare centres in Port-au-Prince had been badly damaged or completely collapsed sue to the earthquake, as well as 200,000 homes in Port-au-Prince having been damaged. As well as this 100,000 homes were completely destroyed along with many government buildings and the presidential palace itself.