Case Study: Port au Prince Earthquake, Haiti
Background Infomation
Haiti sits on a complex strike-slip fault. At this fault line, the Caribbean and North American plates slide past one another in an east-west direction.
Based on the average movement of 7mm since the last earthquake of 1751, the plates were jammed. On 12th January the stress of the surrounding rocks was finally overcome.
When? 12th January 2010 at 16:53
Magnitude: 7
Epicentre: 24km southwest from Port au Prince.
Focus: 13km
Primary Effects
Social
Between 230,000 and 250,000 lives were lost with many people killed by collapsing buildings.
Port au Prince, home to 2 million people, was flattened in less than 60 seconds.
1.5 million people became homeless.
A small localised tsunami killed 7 people.
Economic
50% of buildings collapsed, including key government buildings such as the police headquarters and the parliament.
Infrastructure was brought down - the main port in the capital subsided and became unusable, roads were cracks and blocked by building debris.
Environmental
Lateral spreading resulted in the ground slumping or falling away.
Damage was localised - for example, buildings built on hard bedrock near the epicentre suffered less damaged.
The landscape was permanently changed - corals were pushed upwards to the north of the fault line whilst farmland collapsed into the sea in the south.
Secondary Effects
Social
Strong aftershocks - including a 6.1 magnitude earthquake on 20th January.
With the main prison destroyed in Port au Prince and the police force crippled, the city became lawless.
By the first anniversary of the earthquake, cholera had killed over 1500 and 1.5 million people were still homeless.
Economic
With the loss of hundreds of civil servants and the destruction of ministries, the Haiti government was crippled.
Local food prices at the markets became too expensive for the majority of people.
Short Term Responses
Rescue
International search teams struggled within the dense and congested urban environment.
Local people employed by the UN Development Project pulled survivors out from the debris and cleared roads.
Infrastructure
In Port au Prince, the US Military took control of the airport to speed up the distribution of aid and re-opened one of the two piers in the port.
Security
16,000 UN troops and police restored law and order, coordinated by a new UN/US joint Operations Tasking Centre.
Food
In absence of local food markets, the UN World Food Programme provided basic food necessities.
Farmers were given immediate support before the spring planting season.
Water
Bottled water and purification tablets were distributed.
Health
Emergency surgeries were established to perform life-saving operations.
Shelter
692,000 survivors lived in 291 make-shift camps.
235,000 took advantage of free transportation to cities in the north and southwest.
Buildings
Rapid structural assessment was made of buildings.
Long Term Responses
Aid
A single Haiti Fund manages an $11.5 billion reconstruction package with controls in place to prevent corruption.
Food
The farming sector was reformed to encourage greater self-sufficiency and less reliance on food and imports.
Health
Buildings
A shift was made to focus on follow-up care, including mental health.
Hospitals, schools and government buildings were rebuilt to new life safe building codes.
Local people were employed as construction workers.
Slums were demolished and new settlements built away from high-risk areas, such as unstable hill sides. New homes are more affordable, safe and sustainable.
Economy
Some economic activities were moved away from Port au Prince to less earthquake prone areas.
A UN strategy was developed to create new jobs in clothing, manufacturing, tourism and agriculture, and also to reduce effects of uncontrolled urbanisation.
Why was Haiti's earthquake so deadly?
In Haiti, there are lots of badly built structures, which fell over easily.
8 out of the 10 most populous cities lie on active plate boundaries or in earthquake zones.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western half of the world, meaning it hasn't been able to prepare for big earthquakes.