HAITI EARTHQUAKE 2010

HAITI NOTES:

• Island in the Caribbean Sea, south east of Cuba

• Sits on North American, Caribbean plate boundary

• GDP per capita = $1300

• 80% population live in poverty

EARTHQUAKE

• 12th January 2010 @16:53

• Magnitude of 7.0 on Richter Scale

• Conservate Plate boundary

SOCIAL IMPACTS

• Over 220,000 deaths due to collapsing buildings and small tsunami

• Huge sanitation issues - cases of dysenetry, malaria, TB, cholera

• 1.3 million made homeless

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

• Commerical buildings destroyed - loss of trade and income

• Damage to main clothing industry

• Airport and port damage - affected imports and exports as well as a slowdown in rescue and response from overseas

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

• Deforestation and forest clearance to make temporary camps

• Small scale pollution due to leakage of oil and other chemicals

• Pollution of water supply leading to cholera epidemic

POLITICAL IMPACTS

• Appeals for interntional aid immediately requested by Haiti’s ambassador to the US

• American Red Cross announced it had run out of supplies - appealed for public donations

RESPONSES

• Water, food, tents, medicine and rescue equiptment sent to Port-au-Prince

• Emergency teams helped 3 million people

• US sent planes full of rescue workers, and aircraft carrier and three ships of soldiers to restore air traffic control to the airport

• Hillary Clinton pledged further long-term assistance to rebuild the shattered country

Why did so many people die in the earthquake?

• Occured at a shallow depth

• Struck the most densly populated area of the country

• Buildings in the area were poor constructed and were not earthquake resistant

• Rescue teams took up to 48 hours to arrive in Haiti due to airport issues