Haiti Earthquake Essay

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Haiti Earthquake of 2010 The 2010 earthquake in Haiti was one of the most devastating ever seen in the Western hemisphere, with overwhelming repercussions. The epicentre of the Earthquake in Haiti occurred 16 miles from the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince on the 12th January 2010 at 16.53 local time and its focus was 8.1 miles below the surface of the earth. Due to this the tremors of the earthquake had less to travel to reach the earth’s surface, therefore resulting in strong shockwaves, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale. Haiti is situated on the North of the Caribbean plate, at a conservative plate boundary with the westward moving North American plate. 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. Many buildings were destroyed due to the fact that Haiti had no former plans put in place to limit earthquake devastation as they are the poorest country in the western hemisphere, there were no earthquake resistant buildings or drills for residents to follow in the event of an earthquake occurring. Roads were blocked by fallen

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