Haiti Quake January 12 th 2010 simulator

In Italy it was one town, and a few villages - not a large urban area. In China, it affected a large area and big towns, but no city. In Haiti, in a big city like Port-au-Prince, with so many structures coming down, the falling rubble makes it much more likely that people will die.

Haiti, unlike China and Italy, did not have the resources to act quickly, and it took time for outside help to arrive. The Chinese government was able to mobilise a military response. Although some parts were hard to reach the resources they had were very impressive. In Haiti the airport was only half-functioning and you had one road route that took a day to travel. The statistics may not be very accurate as in Haiti at least the majority of people were pulled out of the rubble by their neighbours.

The earthquake damaged such a huge part of the country and affected the capital worst of all that Haiti’s small GDP was almost wiped out by the cost of repairs and rescues

Why was the impact on Haiti so disastrous?

GDP (PPP) Haiti How would the GDP of Haiti affect its ability to survive a quake?

million10 million2 billion Haiti’s average year round temperatures in o C The number of deaths from cholera after the earthquake The annual rainfall of Haiti in centimetres The date in January when the earthquake happened The number who lost their lives in the earthquake The number seriously injured by the earthquake The number on the Richter scale of the earthquake The percentage of Port-au-Prince buildings that collapsed The % of Haitians living below the poverty line after the quake The % of Haitians living below the poverty line before the quake The cost in US$ of a disease eradication programme The number sleeping on the streets since the quake The number of cases of cholera after the earthquake The population of Haiti at the time of the earthquake

Why were the effects of the earthquake so severe? Consider Wealth Preparation Infrastructure Emergency services buildings

Looting became a serious problem. 1.3 million Haitians were displaced. The Haitian tourist industry declined. Destruction of Government buildings made it hard to manage the country and the police force collapsed. Damage to the main port and roads meant it was hard to deliver and distribute aid supplies Dead bodies in the streets and under rubble, created a health hazard in the heat. Displaced people were moved into tents and temporary shelters people were killed and were injured. Eight hospitals or health care centres in Port-au- Prince were badly damaged or collapsed. There were frequent power cuts. Over 2 million Haitians were left without food and water. By November 2010 there were outbreaks of cholera.

Haiti is a small country; at km 2 it’s about 11% of the size of the UK, or one-third the size of Scotland. As one of the world’s poorest countries, its location along a destructive plate margin and in the Caribbean ‘hurricane belt’ makes many of its 10 million people vulnerable to a major disaster. Haiti has had a difficult history. When Columbus ‘discovered’ the island of Hispaniola (now the island which contains both Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1492, the native Taino peoples there were annihilated within 25 years by disease brought by Spanish settlers. The French took over the western third of the island – which later became Haiti – in They developed forestry, sugar and sugar-related industries. Haiti became – for the French – one of the Caribbean’s wealthiest islands because of imported African slaves and the plantations that led to the destruction of the island’s biodiversity. After revolts by slaves, Haiti became the first independent black-led nation in the modern world in Yet it remains the world’s poorest country by many indicators. As mentioned in the programme, the French charged the Haitians for their independence, a debt which only became fully repaid in Political instability has kept investors away. In January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti; its epicentre about 25 km west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Over people were killed and 1.5 million made homeless. The strength of the earthquake destroyed housing and infrastructure in such a poor country. Development data for Haiti Population 10 million (2013 est.)  Haiti’s population growth rate has slowed to 1% per year (2013), about the same as the UK  Birth rates are now consistently about 23.4 per 1000 population  Death rates have fallen to about 8 per 1000, like many developing countries  Out-migration is significant, and net migration was about -5 per 1000 population in 2010  Its age structure: 0-14 years (34.6%), years (61.3%), 65 years and over (4.1%) Welfare data  Population below poverty line: 80% (2012)  Infant mortality rate: 50.9 deaths/1,000 live births  Life expectancy (2010) 62.8 years, placing Haiti in the world’s lowest 10%.  Fertility rate: 2.88 children born/woman (2013 est.)  Literacy: 53% (male 54%, female 52%) (2003)  Maternal mortality rate: 350 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)  Access to an improved drinking water source: urban 85%, rural 51%  Access to improved sanitation facility: urban 24%, rural 10% Economic data GDP growth rate is recovering from the 2010 earthquake. In 2012, growth was 2.8%, following 5.6% in 2011 and a decline of 5.4% in  GDP - per capita (PPP in US$): $1,300 (2012 est.) – one of the lowest in the world  GDP - composition by sector: agriculture (25%), industry (9%), services (66%) (2012 est.)  Employment by occupation: agriculture (38.1%), industry (11.5%), services (50.4%) (2010)  Unemployment rate: 40.6% (2010 est. – before the earthquake). More than two- thirds of the workforce does not have a formal job.

What effects do earthquakes have?