Tectonic Hazard In An LEDC - Natural Hazards

Question 1

• type of disaster
• location
• facts (2)

Answer 1

• earthquake
• Port au Prince, Haiti
• 12th January 2010
• the country’s capital has a population of 2.5 million

Question 2

• causes (2)

Answer 2

• conservative margin of Caribbean plate and North American plate
• magnitude 7.0 on Richter scale

Question 3

• primary and secondary impacts (3)

Answer 3

• 1.5 million left homeless —-> months of sleeping on the streets and in people’s gardens
• 230,000 deaths —-> psychological problems for those survivors
• 2 hospitals and 3 medical facilities collapsed —-> thousands of people needing medical attention led to more deaths

Question 4

• reasons for severity (3)

Answer 4

• poorest country in the Americas (average GDP per capita $560)
• the focus was only 13km below the Earth’s surface so the quake was more violent
• Port au Prince contained many weak buildings (more than 70% live in slums made of non-reinforced concrete)

Question 5

• short-term response (2)

Answer 5

• Simon Cowell produced ‘Everybody Hurts’ charity single to raise money for the Disasters Emergency Committee and The Sun’s Helping Haiti campaign
• USA sent 10,000 troops to rescue people from the rubble and distribute supplies

Question 6

• long-term response (2)

Answer 6

• 1 year after the quake 1 million people remained in camps
• The World Bank waived the country’s debt repayments for 5 years, providing the country with money to rebuild 280,000 fallen buildings