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.
Haiti Earthquake Date: Tuesday January 12th 2010 at 16:53 (Haiti’s local time) Location: Haiti is a small island in the Caribbean, South East of the USA and the East of Cuba. Cause of Earthquake: It was caused by the pressure between the North American plate and the Caribbean plate sliding past each other in the same direction and one plate moves faster than the other, this happened on the conservative plate margin. The earthquake was a 7 on the Richter scale. Immediate and Secondary Impacts of the Earthquake: Immediate | Secondary | 316,000 people were killed, 1 million people were made homeless, and 3 million people were affected by the earthquake. | 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.
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.
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
However due to illegal logging and the government’s agricultural policy, it had resulted in the loss of many forests. Without these forests there will be no vegetation to intercept the rainwater. Besides that since Thailand is geographically sloped at angle without trees to secure the soil together, it will increase the chances of soil erosion so the soil and mud will be washed into rivers causing them to be shallower. Furthermore the bare slopes that remained will result in increased surface runoff. Similarly in Boscastle, farming in upper course had led to deforestation and removal of hedgerows decreasing the amount of interception from higher ground.
But on August 25, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, everything changed. The levees failed, over 75% of the city was submerged in water and over 1,800 lives were lost. By the time the storm passed, over $81 billion in physical damages had been done. It is estimated that Katrina has resulted in the loss of over 230,000 jobs in Louisiana alone. When the storm struck New Orleans and the levees failed, the low-lying lands flooded at record levels.
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?
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.
Earthquake in Haiti: Financial Relief for Haiti Few months back, Haiti was struck by an earthquake, which left the nation in total ruins. The diminutive prosperity Haiti had was wiped out by the earthquake. Haiti is a poor nation and thus, lacks adequate financing. Financial relief can be given to the people of Haiti to help them recover from the catastrophe. Such financial relief can come in the form of donations from organizations and individuals, funding by financial institutions, reconstruction and development effort, starting up small businesses.