Haiti earthquake January 12th 2010

Location & place-making processes Island located in North America- east of Jamaica Low Income Country 145th out of 169 countries in the UN Human Development Index 86% of people in Port au Prince (the capital) living in slum conditions

Causes Haiti lies on the conservative boundary of the Caribbean and North American plates A slippage caused the releaseof energy from the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system The epicentre was 25km west of Port au Prince The earthquake had a magnitude of 7

Social impacts 3500000 people affected 300000+ people injured 230000 people dead 188383 houses damaged 105000 houses destroyed Over 1 million people became homeless Children left without schools/education Water brone illnesses became an issue

Economic impacts Many businesses destroyed 30000 commercial buildings collapsed Severe damage to clothing industry which was responsible for over 2/3 of Haiti’s export 1 in 5 jobs were lost- socioeconomic issue

Environmental impacts Haiti already had an issue with deforestation which caused other problems such as increased soil erosion- making all impacts of natural disasters significantly worse Buildings were torn down leading to debris and an issue with waste management Crops were lost Chemicals and oil could have leaked out of storage however the focus was on helping people therefore no major environmental impacts were recorded

Political impacts 25% of civil servants in Port au Prince died 60% of government buildings destroyed/damaged 80% of schools destroyed/damaged Damaged infrastructure- roads and seaports- made responses difficult

Short term responses The Dominican Republic provided emergency water & medical supplies Many emergency rescue teams from around the world helped Haiti- e.g Iceland United Nations troops and police provided and distributed aid

Long term responses Rebuilding of schools ‘Cash for work’ scheme paid Haitians to clear rubble Small farmers were supported financially to regrow crops DEC Appeal raised £107million for Haiti EU gave Haiti $330million The World Bank waived Haiti’s debt repayments for 5 years Literacy classes were ran for 60000 women

What can be done to decrease hazard risk in the future? Prediction could trigger evacuation- seismometers Higher frequency/previous earthquakes could increase preparation and therefore limit impact Increased literacy rate could result in better understanding of warnings A stable government and good planning laws Better prediction technology and emergency agencies