haiti earthquake case study

1. Emma,
James and
Jack.
HAITI EARTHQUAKEHAITI
EARTHQUAKE

2. o Haiti is part of Hispaniola, a large Caribbean island of which the Dominican Republic
takes up half of, East of Haiti.
o It lies on the conservative plate margin between the Caribbean and North American
tectonic plates.
o A movement at this margin due to a large build up of pressure occurred at 16:53
local time on the 12th of January 2010, resulting in a devastating release of seismic
activity at a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale.
o It was particularly devastating as the earthquakes epicentre was only 25km west of
Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city, in which most of the nations population,
businesses and services are located.
LOCATION

3. o The Caribbean islands are on their
own separate plate that is one of the
smaller tectonic plates of the earths
crust.
o It is surrounded on three sides by
North and South American plates1 . On
the eastern edge of the plate there is a
destructive boundary where the two
plates, North American and Caribbean
are moving towards each other2 .
o However, as the boundary curves
around to form the northern boundary
of the Caribbean plate, where the
Haitian earthquake occurred, there is a
conservative margin.
o The earthquake’s epicentre was very
close to the Enriquillo Fault which was
formed as a result of a slipping of the
two plates against each other in their
opposite directions releasing energy,
in the South of Haiti.
TECTONIC BACKGROUND

4. o On 12 January
2010, a
magnitude 7
earthquake hit Haiti
at 16:53 local
time. The
earthquake’s
epicentre was 25
km west of Port-
au-Prince, the
capital. Most people,
businesses and
services were located
in the capital. By the
24th January,
at least 52
aftershocks
measuring 4.5
or greater had been
recorded in the
surrounding area.
DATE AND TIME

5. PRIMARY EFFECTS
o Many lives were lost, with many
people killed by collapsing
buildings
o Port-au-Prince was flattened in
less than 60 seconds
o Lateral spreading resulted in
the ground slumping or falling
away
o 50% of buildings collapsed,
o Liquefaction on looser
sediments caused building
foundations to collapse
o Infrastructure was brought
down
o 1.5 million people became
homeless
o Damage was localised– e.g.
buildings built on hard bedrock
near the epicentre suffered less
damage
o A small localised tsunami killed
7 people
o The landscape was

6. o Strong aftershocks
o Possible trigger for
sequence of much larger
earthquakes
o With the loss of hundreds
of civil servants and the
destruction of ministries,
the Haiti government was
crippled
o Local food prices at
markets became too
expensive for the majority
of people
o With the main prison
destroyed in Port-au-Prince
and the police force
crippled, the city became
lawless
o By the first anniversary of
the earthquake, over 1.5
million people were still
homeless
SECONDARY EFFECTS

7. o Immediate aid- $100 million in aid given by the
USA and $330 million by the EU. However there
was a lack of immediate aid.
o Rescue efforts- international search teams
struggled to recover people. They employed
local people by the UNDP (United Nations
Development Project)
o Security- UN troops and police restored law and
order
o Food- the UN world food programme provided
basic food necessities and farmers were given
immediate support in order to help with the
spring growing season
o Water- bottled water and purification tablets
were distributed
o Health- emergency services were established to
help prevent disease and perform lifesaving
operations.
o Shelter- Many people took advantage of 115,000
tents and 1,000,000+ tarpaulins that were
provided.
o Buildings- rapid structural assessments were
made of buildings
IMMEDIATE RESPONSES

8. o Aid- a single Haiti fund manages an $11.5 billion
reconstruction package with control to prevent
corruption
o Food- the farming sector was reinforced to
encourage greater self-sufficiency and less
reliance on food imports
o Health- a shift was made to focus on follow up
care including mental health
o Buildings- hospitals, schools and government
buildings were rebuilt to new life safe building
codes. E.g. could have used reinforced
foundations, reinforced steel and counter
weights etc. Local people were employed as
construction workers, slums were demolished
and new settlements were built on low risk areas
e.g. not on unstable hillsides. New homes are
more affordable and sustainable. They also built
temporary schools to rejuvenate infrastructure.
o Economy- Economic activities were moved to
less earthquake prone areas. A UN
strategy was developed to
create new jobs, e.g. clothing,
manufacturing, tourism and agriculture, as well
as to reduce effects of uncontrolled
urbanisation.
LONG TERM RESPONSES

9. o The number of people in relief camps of tents and tarps since the
quake was 1.6 million, and almost no transitional housing had been
built. Most of the camps had no electricity, running water, or sewage
disposal, and the tents were beginning to fall apart
o 1 year after the earthquake, 1 million people were still without
housing so had to continue to live in aid camps.
o 6 months after the quake, 98% of the rubble/debris still hadn’t been
cleared
o Between 23 major charities, £1.1 billion had been collected for relief
efforts in Haiti, but only two percent of the money had been
released.
o Significantly exacerbating the problem, a cholera outbreak occurred
in Haiti in October 2010.
LONG TERM IMPACTS

10. o The main reason why the Haiti earthquake was so
devastating was due to its lack of preparation for the
earthquake.
o There was no education about earthquakes.
o The buildings were not earthquake-safe buildings
o There was also no stockpiling of emergency supplies
o These are all because Haiti is an LEDC. After the quake
struck, they were almost totally reliant upon the international
community for aid relief.
PREPARATION FOR THE EVENT