HAITI EART HQUAKE

HAITI
EARTHQUAKE Prepared by
Jinu
Sree
Rinsha
Mumina
Basith
Shivani
Shabnam
 LOCATION
o Ha i t i i s p a r t o f Hi s p a nio l a, a l a r g e C a r i b be an i s l a nd o f wh i c h t h e Do mi n i can Re p u bl i c
t a k es u p h a l f o f , E a s t o f Ha i t i .
o I t l i e s o n t h e c o n serva ti ve p l a t e ma r g in b e t we en t h e Ca r i bb ean a n d No r th Ame r ic an
t e ct o nic p l a tes .
o A mo ve me nt a t t h i s ma r g i n d u e t o a l a r g e b u i l d u p o f p r e ssure o c c urre d a t 1 6 : 53
l o c a l t i me o n t h e 1 2 th o f J a n uary 2 01 0, r e s ult i ng i n a d e va s tat ing r e l e ase o f s e i s mic
a c t ivi ty a t a ma g ni t ude o f 7 o n t h e Ri c h ter s c a l e.
o I t wa s p a r t icul arl y d e va s ta ti ng a s t h e e a r thquakes e p i cen tre wa s o n l y 2 5 k m we s t o f
Port -au - Pri nce, Ha i t i ’s c a p i t al c i t y, i n wh i c h mo s t o f t h e n a t i ons p o p u l ati on,
b u s i ne sses a n d s e r vi ces a r e l o c ated.
 TECTONIC BACKGROUND
o Th e Ca r i b bean i s l a nds a r e on t h e i r
own s e p arate p l a te t h a t i s o n e o f t h e
s ma l ler t e c tonic p l a t es o f t h e e a r ths
c r u st.
o I t i s s u r roun ded on t h r ee s i d e s b y
No r t h a n d S o u th Ame r i can p l a t es 1 . On t
h e e a s tern e d g e o f t h e p l a t e t h e re i s a
d e s tructive b o u ndary wh e r e t h e t wo
pl a tes, No r t h Ame r i c an a n d Ca r i bbe an
a r e mo vi n g t o wa r ds e a c h o t h er 2 .
o Ho we ve r, a s t h e b o u ndary c u r ves
a r o und t o f o r m t h e n o r t hern b o u ndary
o f t h e C a r i b bean p l a t e, wh e r e t h e
Ha i t i an e a r thq uak e o c c urred, t h er e i s a
c o n serva ti ve ma r g i n.
o The e a r thqu ake’s e p i c entre wa s ver y
c l o se t o t h e E n r i qui ll o Fa u l t wh i c h wa s
f o r med a s a r e s ult o f a s l i p pi ng of t h e
t wo p l a t es a g a i nst e a c h o t h er i n t h e i r
o p p os ite d i r e ct ions r e l e asi ng e n e r g y,
in the South of Haiti.
 DATE AND TIME
o On12 January
2010 , a
magnitude 7
earthquake hit Haiti
16:53 local
a t
time. T h e
e a r t h q u a k e ’s
epicentre was 25
km west o f P o r t -
au - P r i n c e , t h e
capit al. Most people,
businesses and
services were located
in the capital. By the
24th January ,
a t least 52
aftershocks
measuring 4.5
or greater had been
recorded in the
surrounding area.
 PRIMARY EFFECTS
o Many l ive s wer e lost, with man y
pe ople kil led by coll apsing
bu ild ings
o Port -au -Prince wa s fl attened in
le ss than 60 sec onds
o La teral spreading r esulted i n
th e gro un d slum p ing or fal li ng
away
o 50 % of b uil din gs co ll apsed,
o Li qu efaction o n l oo s e r
sed im ents cau se d bui ldi ng
fo undati ons to c ol lapse
o Infrastructure wa s br ought
do wn
o 1.5 mil li on peop le be came
ho mel ess
o Da mag e wa s lo c ali se d – e.g .
bu i ldings b u ilt on hard b ed ro ck
ne ar the e pi ce ntre su ff er ed less
damage
o A sm all lo cal ised tsu nami kil led
7 p eople
o The l andscape was
 SECONDARY EFFECTS
o Stro ng afte rs hocks
o Pos sibl e tri gger for
sequence of much larg er
earth quak es
o With th e loss of hundre ds
of civil serv ants and th e
destru cti on of m inistri es,
th e Ha iti govern ment wa s
cri ppled
o Loc al food pri ces at
mark ets became to o
exp ensive fo r th e majori ty
of people
o With th e main pri son
destro ye d in Port -au -Pr ince
and th e police fo rc e
cri ppl ed, the city bec ame
lawl ess
o By th e fi rs t annivers ary of
th e earth quak e, over 1.5
million people we re sti ll
homeless
 IMMEDIATE RESPONSES
o Im mediate aid- $100 million in aid given by th e
USA and $330 million by th e EU. Ho we ver th ere
wa s a lack of imm ediate aid.
o Res cue efforts - internati onal searc h teams
stru ggled to re cover people. Th ey employe d
local people by th e UNDP (Un ite d Na ti ons
De velopment Pro ject)
o Securi ty - UN tro ops and police re sto re d law and
ord er
o Fo od- th e UN wo rl d fo od pro gra m me pro vided
bas ic food nec es siti es and farmers were gi ven
immediate support in ord er to help wi th th e
spri ng gro wi ng season
o Wa te r- bottl ed wa te r and puri fi cati on ta blets
we re distri bute d
o He alth - emerg enc y serv ices we re esta blished to
help pre vent disease and perfo rm life saving
opera ti ons .
o Shel ter - Many peopl e took adv antage of 115, 000
te nts and 1,000,000+ ta rp aulins th at we re
pro vided.
o Buildings - ra pid stru ctu ra l assessments we re
made of buildings
LONG TERM RESPONSES
o Aid - a s i n gl e H a i t i f u n d ma n a ges a n $ 11 .5 b i l l i on
r e c onstructi on p a c k age wi t h c o n trol t o p r e ve nt
c o r ruptio n
o Fo od - t h e f a r mi ng s e c t or wa s r e i n forc ed t o
e n c ourage g r e ater s e l f -suff i ci enc y an d l e s s
r e l i ance o n f o o d i mp o rts
o He a l th - a s h i f t wa s ma d e t o f o cus o n f o l l ow u p
c a r e i n c l udi ng me n t al h e a l th
o B u i l d i ngs - h o s pi tal s, s c ho ol s a n d g o ve r nme nt
b u i l di ng s we r e r e b uil t t o n e w l i f e s a f e b u i l d ing
c o d es. E . g . c o u l d h a ve u s e d r e i nforc ed
f o u ndati ons, r e i n forc ed s t eel a n d c o u nter
we i g h ts e t c . Lo c al pe o pl e we r e e mp l o ye d a s
c o n structi on wo r k e rs , s l u ms we r e d e mol i shed
a n d n e w s e ttl ement s we r e b u i l t o n l o w r i s k a r e as
e . g . n o t o n u n s t abl e h i l l si des . Ne w h o mes a r e
mo r e a ff ordabl e a n d s u st ai nabl e. Th e y a l s o b u i l t
t e mpora ry s c h ool s t o r e j u ve nat e i n f r astruc tur e.
o E c o n omy- E c o nomi c a c t ivi ti e s we r e mo ve d t o
less e a rthquake p r o ne a r e as. A U N
s t r at egy wa s d e ve l o ped t o
c r e ate n e w j o b s, e. g. c l o th ing ,
ma n ufact uri ng, t o u ri s m a n d a g r i culture , a s we l l
a s t o r e d uce e ff ect s o f u n c on t rol le d
u r b ani sat ion.
 LONG TERM IMPACTS
o The number of people in relief camps of te nts and ta rps since th e
quake wa s 1.6 millio n, and almo st no tra nsitio na l housing had been
built. Most of th e camps had no electricity, running wa te r, or sewa ge
disposa l, and th e te nts we re beginning to fa ll apart

o 1 ye ar afte r th e earth quake, 1 millio n people we re sti ll wi th out

housing so had to conti nue to live in aid camps.
o 6 month s afte r th e quake, 98% of th e ru bble/debris sti ll hadn’t been
cleared
o Betwe en 23 major charities , £1.1 billion had been colle cte d fo r relief
effo rts in Haiti, but only two percent of th e money had been
release d .
o Significa ntly exa cerbatin g th e problem, a cholera outb reak occurred
in Haiti in Oc to ber 2010.
 PREPARATION FOR THE EVENT
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.