Haiti EQ

Question 1

where is Haiti located?

Answer 1

small island in the Caribbean. SE of USA. Capital is Port-Au-Prince

Question 2

what caused the earthquake?

Answer 2

North American plate sliding past the Caribbean plate at a conservative plate margin. Both plates move in the same direction but one plate moves faster than the other. Pressure built up and released a magnitude 7 eq with epicentre just 16 miles from capital

Question 3

when was the EQ?

Answer 3

January 2010

Question 4

what were the primary impacts of the EQ?

Answer 4

• 316k dead and 1 million homeless
• 250k homes destroyed and 60% of govt buildings
• transport and communication links badly damaged
• airport control tower destroyed
• main prison destroyed 4k inmates escaped

Question 5

what were the secondary impacts?

Answer 5

• 1 in 5 lost their jobs and Haiti’s largest industry (clothing) was worst affected
• hospitals and morgues became full and bodies had to be piled up on the streets
• bodies meant diseases spread, especially cholera
• difficult to get aid into area due to poor management at airport
• people squashed into shanty towns with poor sanitation- looting

Question 6

what were the short term responses?

Answer 6

• 100mil aid given by US and 330 mil by EU
• 810k people placed in aid camps
• tents and shelters provided
• lack of immediate aid through poor planning meant people had to rescue each other
• 4.3 mil provided with food rations following eq

Question 7

what were the long term responses?

Answer 7

• support for people without jobs (70% of population) through cash/food for work projects
• temporary schools created
• 1 mil people still without houses after a year so live in aid camps
• 98% of rubble on roads hadn’t been cleared