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Summary Haiti earthquake case study - Unit 2 - Advanced Physical Options
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- detailed, in depth A Level Geography case study on Haiti earthquake - perfect for case study for the Hazards Topic
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Case study: Haiti 2010 earthquakeBackground
Haiti is a small LEDC island located in the Caribbean south east of the USA and of Cuba and
neighbouring the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Port Au Prince; it is a densely populated area with 47
per cent living in urban areas.
The earthquake occurred on the 12 th January at 4:53am and measured 7.6 on the Richter scale.
Causes
The earthquake was caused by the North American Plate sliding past the Caribbean plate at a
conservative plate margin. Both plates move in the same direction but one plate moves faster than
the other. Pressure and tension built up along the fault line and was eventually released as an
earthquake.
The Haiti earthquake epicentre 16km south west of Port au Prince and was unusually close to the
earth’s surface only 8.1 miles underground and this increased the severity of tremors.
Effects
Primary effects Secondary effects
316,000 people were killed and 1 million Collapsed buildings and shattered
people were made homeless infrastructure made the emergency
300,000 people injured operation very difficult.
3 million people were affected by the The clothing industry had facilities
earthquake damaged, damaging the economy as 66
250,000 homes and 30,000 other per cent of Haiti’s exports are clothes
buildings , including the presidents Morgue facilities were overwhelmed, so
palace and 60% of government buildings bodies were piled in the streets,
were either destroyed or badly damaged spreading disease.
Communication went down including Due to the slow distribution of resources
land lines, mobile phones and the throughout Haiti, looting began to take
internet. This made is very difficult to place
contact people in Haiti and to organise a Local food prices increased
response. Cholera breakout
50 hospitals and 1300 schools were Haiti government crippled – now one of
damaged. Port-au-Prince had only eight the most corrupt in the world
functioning hospitals before the 1 in 5 people lost their jobs because so
earthquake and all of these have been many buildings were destroyed
destroyed or seriously damaged. It was very difficult getting aid into the
The main prison was destroyed and over area because of issues at the airport an
4000 inmates escaped generally poor management of the
The airport control tower, port and situation
many roads were destroyed People were squashed into shanty towns
or onto the streets because their homes
had been destroyed leading to poor
sanitation and health
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