Ghania Javed | Geography |

The Forgotten
Nightmare
THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

Map

Intro
On January 12 2010 at 4:53pm a devastating earthquake hit the small country
called Haiti. This 7.0 attack caused severe damaged to the people, their life and their
homes. Killing almost 220,000 Haitians and injuring about 300,000. Leaving 1.5
million civilians homeless and hurt, all crying for help. Some prayers were answered
but some still continue to call out for help not knowing if their voice will be heard.

Local and National Response

There was relatively less or none aid from the local and national responses.
Many Haitians were upset over the lack of help from the government. No assistance
what so ever was offered to the citizens of this poor country. The country was already
struggling to pay their debts that had been cancelled after the earthquake hit. Even
before the crises more than half Haitians were living on about a dollar a day. Haiti
was also 145th of 169 countries in the UN Human Development Index, lowest in the
Western Hemisphere. The lack of codes and rules for the buildings also didnt help
the crises. The government knew about the constant earthquake but didnt make a
move to prevent the disaster from becoming bigger. So the help from the Haiti
government was out of the question.

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International Response
Majority of the help was given by international responses. The countries
offered a helping hand by giving food, water and assistance. Brazil had helped by
sending aircrafts full of water, food, medicine, equipment and a search and rescue
team. India and South Korea both provided one million dollars to rebuild the country.
Australia and Beijing gave their assistance by medical aid and many rescue staff like
doctors and nurses to help the wounded. Canada played a huge part helping Haiti by
giving one billion dollars and offering Canadian forces .The 2000 personnel from the
army, navy and air force gave 1.5 million meals and 2.6 million liters of water. The
Canadian International Development Agency otherwise known as CIDA gave food to
4.3 million Haitians and water to 1.2 million people. Medical care was also provided to
the 90% individuals of Port au Prince.

Celebrities and International Aid

Celebrities from around the world were doing their best to raise awareness
and money to help the hopeless people. Canadian artist like Drake, Justin Bieber and
Avril Lavigne teamed up with the Wavin Flag singer Kanaan to make their own
version of his song for Haiti. The song raised about $1 million dollars for the cause.
Wyclef Jean a Haitian, American rapper and George Clooney an American actor raised
$60 million dollars for Haiti. Many international services like the UN Nations offered
$10 million from their emergency fund and $9.9 billion from the UN donor conference
in New York. Red Cross also played a huge part in helping the people. Pacifically the
Canadian Red Cross gave 14 400 tons of supplies, 2.5 million liters of water and
7,500 homes in Jacmel, Laogane. To the world Red Cross was one of the biggest
companies offering aid to the Haitians but in June 2015 Red Cross was criticized on
their lack of transparency on how funds had been allocated and the failure on their
reconstruction goals.

Effectiveness
Even now many citizens are living in tents and are being treated for cholera.
More should have been done for the orphans who have no family left and for those
who havent been helped yet. The political corruption has also not help with case of
rebuilding the country where people are still living in rent homes. The UN has also
been blamed for the cholera epidemic that killed 9,000 people. Many more Haitians
get infected by cholera each year but nothing has been done to stop it. UN soldiers
haven been involved in rapes and human rights violations and the fact that Red Cross
has been criticized of not meeting their goals is not helping the people at all. The lack
of governments investment in water and sanitation has also affected the country.
People in each level, federal, provincial and municipal are all playing with the
citizens lives. Most people have forgotten about the crises that happened 6 years
ago. They have forgotten about the many hungry orphans roaming the streets, the
broken families saving penny to penny to make ends meet. For a while I had
forgotten too but people are still suffering and nothing is really being done for them.
The media has to shine the light on this cause once again to make more people
aware that the nightmare has still not ended.

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Reference
Canadas Response to the Devastating Earthquake. (n.d.). Retrieved
February 27, 2016, from
http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/haiti/engagement/earthquakeseisme.aspx?lang=eng
Haiti Earthquake. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2016, from
https://www.worldvision.ca/ourwork/Our-Stories/Pages/Haiti-EarthquakeThree-Years-Later.aspx
Haiti Earthquake Facts and Figures. (2015). Retrieved February 28, 2016,
from http://www.dec.org.uk/articles/haiti-earthquake-facts-and-figures
Haiti Earthquake Fast Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2016, from
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/world/haiti-earthquake-fast-facts
Haiti earthquake: Angry crowds bemoan lack of government response.
(n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2016, from
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0117/Haiti-earthquakeAngry-crowds-bemoan-lack-of-government-response
Haiti earthquake: The nations that are stepping up to help. (n.d.). Retrieved
February 27, 2016, from http://www.csmonitor.com/World/GlobalNews/2010/0114/Haiti-earthquake-The-nations-that-are-stepping-up-to-help
How has the Canadian Red Cross response helped Haiti since 2010? Canadian Red Cross. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2016, from
http://www.redcross.ca/about-us/red-cross-stories/2013/how-has-thecanadian-red-cross-response-helped-haiti-since-2010
Pallardy, R. (n.d.). Haiti earthquake of 2010. Retrieved February 29, 2016,
from http://www.britannica.com/event/Haiti-earthquake-of-2010

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