Haiti Earthquake Case Study

• Haiti is the poorest country on the Western Hemisphere (LEDC)

• Haiti was hit on 12th January 2010 at 4.53pm, South West of Port-Au-Prince 

• Located on the edge of 2 tectonic plates (Caribbean plate and North American plate) - caused by conservative plate boundary 

• 7.0 Magnitude on the Richter Scale

• Country was already suffering from 2008 hurricanes that caused $1 billion damage

• The country was not able to protect themselves from the earthquake 

Social:

• 230,000 people died 
• Over 300,000 injured (300,572) 
• 2.3 million homeless 
• A man (Evan Monsignac) was trapped for 27 days under rubble 
• One year on people still living in camps

Economic: 

• $7.8 billion damage
• 80% already below poverty line
• Poverty levels were so high before, basic support offered more to people living in camps than before 
• Did not have the infrastructure (e.g. roads) to manage rescue operation

Environmental:

• 60% Government buildings damaged 
• 80% school in Port-Au-Prince damaged
• Transport & Communication links badly damaged
• Rainy season approaching
• Hospitals also destroyed

• Hospitals couldn't cope with the large number of injuries and deaths - resulting to more people dying for treatable injuries/diseases
• Lack of space to place dead bodies - leading to spreading of disease
• A year later, people were still living in camps so cholera spread
• Poor transport links meant that people weren't rescued quick enough (e.g. man stuck for 27 days) increased number of deaths
• Prison destroyed so inmates escaped leading to looting and crime

There are probably more however these are just some 

Short Term Response: 

• First Rescue and search teams arrived 22 hours after earthquake
• First Red cross teams arrived 36 hours after earthquake
• Stockpiles quickly distributed
• Latrines installed 
• Aid was unevenly distributed
• Limited health supplies 
• Lack of immediate aid through poor planning, management and access meant that people had to try and rescue each other

Long Term Response:

• $9.5 billion pledged but $5.9 disbursed
• Donor didn't trust government due to previous corruption
• Government owned 50% of land but only 2 pieces made available within first 2 months
• One year on people still live in camps
• Support for people without jobs - for 70% of the population 
• Temporary schools created and new teacher trainees
• Water and sanitation eventually supplied for 1.7 million people
• 98% of rubble still hadn't been cleared