Why Was the Haitian Earthquake so Deadly

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Why was the Haitian earthquake so deadly? On January 12th 2010 at 16:53 local time (21:53 GMT) an earthquake hit the Caribbean island of Haiti. It was a colossal 7.0 on the Richter scale and lasted around 35 seconds, but inflicted a cataclysm which would take years to correct. It struck south of the capital Port-au-Prince destroying the presidential palace, UN HQ, as well as houses, schools and public buildings. 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. Soon there was over £12million for the victims. It is thought that over 150,000 people were killed but the exact number is unknown, there were also thought to be over 250,000 casualties. There are any factors that influenced the amount of deaths and injuries. In this essay I will cover many of the factors and conclude which one I feel had the biggest impact. The time of day may have contributed to the deadliness of the quake. The earthquake struck at 16:53 a time when many people would have been returning home from work, school etc. This would mean that there would have been many people out in the town, driving, walking, and shopping which would make the death rate a lot higher as people wouldn’t have been able to get to their

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