CASE STUDY- Haiti, January 2010 Flashcards
(8 cards)
Location and introduction
-12th January 2010, measured 7 on the Richter scale
-Killed over 200,000 people
-Haiti is located in the Caribbean and forms the western part of the island, Hispaniola
-Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. with a population of 9.8 million but a GNI of only $660 per person.
Causes
-Haiti is along a complex set of plate margins and has the two conservative strike-split faults on the island itself that cause the most impact. Can be affected by the movements of destructive plate margins within the Caribbean.
-In 2010 it was the movement in the Enriqullio- Plantain Garden fault system in the south of the country that destroyed 60% of the country’s capital, Port-au prince.
Environmental impacts
-Landslides destroyed natural landscapes
-65km rupture on the Enriquilllo-Plantain Garden Fault with a slip of 1.8 metres.
Economic Impacts
-$8 billion costs of damage and losses
-60% of infrastructure destroyed in and around Port-au Prince
-70% of buildings collapsed
-19 universities destroyed and 8 hospitals
Social impacts
-6900 deaths from the cholera epidemic
-230,000 deaths in total
-4000 amputees
-1.5 million left homeless and had to live in tented camps
Political impacts
-UN headquarters was destroyed and it lost lots of personnel.
-Dominican Republic was the first to give aid
-Government had no plan and there was a lack of coordination
Short- term responses
-115,000 tents were provided
-1100 camps were provided
- Many NGO flew in to help
-Many survivors fled to other family homes in rural areas.
Long -term responses
-By July 2010, 1.6 million people were still living in temporary camps
-Cash for work programmes had been set up to enable some residents to support themselves
-Buildings that had not collapsed were assessed to the safety of their structure. Stop the extent of damage happening again in the future.
