Geography All The Way

Why was the Haitian earthquake so deadly?

WHO was affected by the earthquake?

 Why is the death toll from this earthquake so high? Why are the Haitian authorities so unsure of
the death toll?
The Haitian earthquake caused 230,000 deaths and 1.2 million people to be left homeless. The death
toll from the Haitian earthquake is so high, because Haiti is in the Caribbean, a less economically
developed country. The impacts of the earthquake are felt so much more in such areas, because there
is a huge shortage of various amenities. Additionally, the density of the population near to the
epicentre of the earthquake, as well as any nearby heavily urbanised areas can affect the death toll of a
seismic event. Poverty also takes it role in increasing the number of deaths. In places such as Haiti, for
example, where 72.1% of the population have to live on less than $2 a day and in cities such as Port-
au-Prince, where many are housed in low quality, densely populated shantytowns and poorly
constructed buildings, the devastation is always expected to be greater. Such countries have far less
money to invest into infrastructure and there is a shortage of governance ensuring that building codes
are followed. In Port-au-Prince, a large city, a vast number of structures were collapsing due to the
earthquake. As a result, more rubble led to the deaths of more people. Haiti, unlike other more
developed countries, simply did not possess the resources to act quickly and it took time for foreign
aid to reach the country. The real issue was the fact that the airport in Haiti was only half-functioning,
and there was only one road route into the affected area, that took a day to traverse. The dense urban
environment in Port-au-Prince also made it a very difficult place for rescue teams to work on once
they were actually there. The severe congestion that resulted from the earthquake in the larger cities
also meant that there was less room for manoeuvre – meaning that emergency services and aid
organisations could not effectively administer help, so many died.

WHAT caused the earthquake to happen?

 Why was Haiti struck by an earthquake?
The main reason that the Haitian earthquake occurred is where the Caribbean plate is situated. The
plate is surrounded by two plates, the North American and South American plates. Both plates are
attempting to move in relation to the Caribbean plate, which is a major problem. On the east of the
plate, convergence is happening, where an oceanic plate moves toward and is subducted beneath a
continental, or another oceanic plate. As it is forced downwards, pressure at the margins increases
and this can result in violent earthquakes. However, closer to Haiti, the plates are grinding together,
creating a conservative plate margin, where the plates stick, building up pressure, which, when
released results in a severe earthquake.

 Do you disagree with any of the explanation given by the Al Jazeera meteorologist? How would you
improve the explanation? What terminology do you think should be used?

Although I agree with the majority of the explanation provided by the Al Jazeera meteorologist, I
think that should improvements could have been made to the way that the information was given. For
example, the meteorologist failed to mention the four different types of plate margin – constructive,
conservative, collision and destructive. Instead, she only mentions destructive and constructive, which
she refers to as “transform”. Here, she fails to use the right terminology. In addition, the meteorologist
failed to use explicit detail – she does not explain what “convergence” is, and for those watching the
programme who know very little or even nothing about plate tectonics, this could be very confusing.

WHEN did the earthquake happen?

 Do you think that the death toll was affected by the time of day that the earthquake occurred?
Explain your answer fully.
The earthquake occurred on Tuesday 12th January 2010 at 4:53 pm. I believe that the time of day that
an event occurs can have a dramatic impact on the death toll. Although earthquakes are random and
completely natural events that can occur at any time of day, because the earthquake occurred in the
 middle of the day, a large amount of people were out and about in Haiti and so susceptible to the
earthquake’s effects. If, however, the earthquake had of happened during the night, the majority of
people would have been asleep in their homes, where they would have at least been safe from
collapsing roads and buildings. In addition, an earthquake occurring mid-week will cause maximum
and severe damage. Because the Haitian earthquake occurred during peak work hours, there was a
large concentration of people and therefore casualties near the epicentre. The potential for mass
casualties is heightened during hours of work, because lots of people are collected within urban areas,
exposing populations to potential collapse of high-rise buildings that house hundreds or even
thousands of workers, roads and bridges.

WHY has the death toll been so high?

 What physical components of the earthquake contributed to the severity of this extreme natural
event?
Haiti sits on the west of the island of Hispanola. It is located on the edge of two tectonic plates – the
North American plate and the Caribbean plate. The motion between the two plates is similar to two
pieces of earth sliding past each other very slowly – the Caribbean plate is moving east compared to
the North American plate at a rate of about ¾ inch per year. There are two large faults that bracket
the island – one along the northern edge of the island and another along the southern edge. In the
case of the Haitian earthquake, the event occurred on the southern fault, which runs right through
Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince. Scientists have warned for many years that the islands of and around
Haiti are part of a very active region. They are located right on a plate boundary, where there is
continuous motion and there have been thousands of earthquakes in the last decade.

Haiti’s level of development

Development Haiti Norway Niger United Kingdom

Indicator

Gross Domestic
Product per $1,300 (2009 est.) $57,400 (2009 est.) $700 (2009 est.) $34,800 (2009 est.)
Capita

Life Expectancy total population: total population: total population: total population:
at Birth 29.93 years 80.08 years 52.99 years 79.92 years

male: 29.61 years male: 77.42 years male: 51.75 years male: 77.84 years

female: 82.89 years female: 54.26 years female: 82.11 years

female: 30.25 years

Total Fertility 3.17 children 1.77 children 7.68 children 1.92 children
Rate born/woman born/woman born/woman born/woman

Literacy Rate definition: age 15 definition: age 15 definition: age 15 definition: age 15
and over can read and and over can read and and over can read and and over can read and
write write write write

total population: total population: total population: total population:

52.9% 100% 52.9% 99%

male: 54.8% male: 100% male: 54.8% male: 99%

 female: 51.2% female: 100% female: 51.2% female: 99%

 How might Haiti's level of development have impacted upon the death toll?
As we can see from this table, Haiti is located within an LEDC. Often, the level of development within
the poorest of countries is extremely low. The gross domestic product per capita in Haiti is extremely
low. GDP is the value of total production of goods and services in a country over a specified period,
typically a year. How much GDP grows from one period to the next is an indication of a country’s
economic health and well-being. If a country’s GDP is low, it can be interpreted that the standard of
living in that country is less than satisfactory. The major advantage of GDP per capita as an indicator
of standard of living is that it is measured frequently, widely, and consistently. The major
disadvantage is that it is not a measure of standard of living. GDP is intended to be a measure of total
national economic activity— a separate concept. But, the level of GDP portrays the level of economic
wealth within a country. If it is low, then the majority of the population is poor, meaning that they are
not equipped or able to protect themselves from an earthquake. For example, they cannot afford to
invest in earthquake resistant buildings or put in place prediction and protection schemes, such as
evacuation planning. The life expectancy of a country is also another indicator of development. The
higher the life expectancy, the better shape a country is in. Haiti’s life expectancy is very low,
especially compared to other countries such as Norway and the United Kingdom. Life expectancy is
related to the level of health care and education within a country. Haiti is located in an LEDC,
meaning that the level of health care is less than satisfactory, which is why the life expectancy is so
low. In the event of an earthquake, therefore, the country would not be able to deal with the mass
injury and spread of disease. With such a low life expectancy anyway, a large amount of people would
be expected to die and the lack of medicine and healthcare professionals would just contribute to the
high death toll. Looking at the literacy rate within Haiti, we can see that the level of education within
the country is also low, indicating that the majority of the population of Haiti have been poorly
educated, if educated at all! A lack of education within a country means that a vast amount of people
are unaware of what to do in the event of a volcano. Many live in man-made slums, because they have
not the skills or intellect to have a good, well-paying job. Outside the capital and some other cities,
housing facilities are generally primitive and almost universally without sanitation. Wooden huts are
the prevalent standard for the countryside. Such housing is not made to handle the effects of an
earthquake, meaning that the majority of Haiti’s population is at extreme risk in such an event.

Haiti’s history

 How is Haiti's history a contributing factor to the death toll?

Haiti is now one of the poorest countries in Hemisphere. Once the richest colony in the Americas, a
slave revolt against the French in 1804 established Haiti as the world’s first black republic. Under
threat of invasion, Haiti agreed to compensate France for a loss of property, resulting in a debt that
took 120 years to pay back and launched a cycle of debt, dependence and instability. After more than
three decades of dictatorship and military rule that plunged the country deeper into international
debt, former Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide, elected in 1990, gained support from the poor
community. However, nine months later he was ousted in a military coup. Death squads rampaged
through the country threatening the Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s supporters. In 1994, Bill Clinton and a
fleet of US marines backed the presidents return, but not until he agreed to a programme of economic
adjustment; downsizing, privatisation and de-regulation. Tariffs on foreign place were placed, from
50% to 3% in weeks and subsidised imports form the US forced farmers out of business, off their
farms and into slums. Critics of the policy claim that the economic programme set the stage for the
‘food riots’ of 2008. Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted again from power in 2004 by a coalition of
business and political elites, but he still had support within the poor. The USA sent troops into Haiti
and the UN organised a peace keeping mission to pacify the gangs in the slums. The UN mission
however was controversial and was accused of killing indiscriminately and terrifying those it was put
 in place to protect. Since the election of René Garcia Préval in 2006, the country has continued to
struggle for stability. In 2008, four hurricanes led to the deaths of more than 800 people and cause
more than $1 billion damage. Only in 2009 did financial institutions and the US finally cancel Haiti’s
$1.2 billion debt and so Clinton was appointed as the special envoy for Haiti by the UN. But, as
international aid began flowing into the country after the earthquake in 2009, questions were raised
and it was wondered whether a former US president and so much foreign aid could really deal with
the aftershocks of the history of Haiti.

Haiti – A multiple hazard location

 What is a multiple hazard location? How might the fact that Haiti is a multiple hazard location have impacted
the death toll negatively and positively?
A multiple hazard location refers to an area that suffers from not only one, but several hazards that are all inter-
linked and related. Haiti is a multiple hazard location. Already one of the poorest nations within the Americas,
Haiti has been struck by a series of fatal disasters over the years. Since 1980, a huge number of hurricanes have
passed within 200km of Port-au-Prince, including Hurricane Gilbert of 1988, Hurricane Cindy in 1993 and in
2008 alone, Haiti was hit by Hurricanes Ike and Hannah, leaving scores injured and dead. In addition, 70% of
the Haitian population has to live on less than $2 per day and half of the population, 8.5 million are
unemployed. A quarter of Haiti’s total population are affected by food insecurity, another hazard. Haiti has been
branded one of the most economically vulnerable countries by the food and agriculture organisation and the
situation has become so dreadful that the world food programme now has to serve one meal a day to more than
500,000 school children, providing them with often what is their only meal of the day. The fact that Haiti is a
multiple hazard location affects the death toll both positively and negatively. With the food issues comes foreign
aid, in the form of organisations such as the world food programme. The fact that people are provided with at
least one sufficient meal a day means that they are provided with energy, boosting health levels and increasing
peoples’ immunity and ability to fight off disease, which spreads rapidly in the event of a natural disaster such as
an earthquake. In addition to this, because Haiti is struck by many disasters, such as Hurricane Ike and
Hurricane Hannah, the local Government has to put prediction and protection schemes in place. The death of
masses because of such events opens the eyes of an area and it increases the willpower to want to protect people
of any similar events in the future. However, Haiti being a multiple hazard location affects the death toll
negatively. The lack of food in Haiti means that people, although they are getting some source of food, are not
getting enough. It could be argued that this results in people becoming weaker and weaker and therefore less
able to fight for their lives during events such as the earthquake of 2009. Haiti already has a very low life
expectancy, along with low levels of health and education, meaning that there is little that they can really do to
protect the nation in the event of an earthquake. The fact that more than half of Haiti’s total population has to
live on $2 dollars per day does not help the death toll either. This means that they cannot fully provide for
themselves. They are living in insufficient, slum like housing, which simply cannot withstand the effects of an
earthquake. Half of the population is also unemployed, meaning that they cannot better themselves and improve
their lives. Often in LEDCs, this type of situation results in dependence on international aid. This means that
peoples’ determination to improve things for themselves is lacking and when an earthquake does strike, they are
helpless until foreign aid is provided.

Extended Response Question

 Why was the Haitian earthquake so deadly?

There are a number of factors that help to explain why the Haitian earthquake of 2009 was so deadly and caused
such drastic and extensive damage. The majority of these factors were inter-linked and each had its own
significant role in creating such devestation.

Haiti is located in the Caribbean, a less economically developed country – a nation with a low level of material
wellbeing. The Caribbean suffers from a serious shortage of various amenities, including effective healthcare and
education facilities and the funding to invest in protective, earthquake resistant infrastructure. Because Haiti is
located within an LEDC, there is a huge lack of resources, making it difficult for emergency services and aid
organisations to reach those areas at risk. Port-au-Prince (the capital of Haiti) particularly, is a very dense urban
environment. This creates overcrowding and traffic congestion in normal circumstances, which is worsened
especially in events of seismic activity. This also makes it hard for rescue teams to carry out protection schemes,
such as evacuation. This can explain why the earthquake was so deadly. Because the densely populated area
made it extremely difficult to implement evacuation, many people were left stranded in grave danger, amongst
rubble and collapsed buildings and no access to clean water or food and so the death toll of this event was sky
high.

The density of the population near to the epicentre of the earthquake also affected the intensity of its impacts.
Haiti is a heavily urbanised area, with a large population. The majority of those residing in Port-au-Prince live in
low quality shantytowns and are victim to extreme overcrowding. The housing type in shantytowns is primarily
wooden and so cannot withstand the effects of such a deadly earthquake. In addition, the condition of the
buildings within Haiti, such as places of work and high-rise buildings is far less than satisfactory. None of the
buildings are designed to protect in the event of an earthquake, and so many lives are put at risk. This factor
would have contributed to the death rate and increased it dramatically.

An additional component that may shed light on why the earthquake in Haiti was so deadly is the extreme
poverty that so many people living there find themselves in. 70% of the population of Haiti are forced to live on
less than $2 per day. They are constantly unemployed, and with such a poor system of education within the
country, they cannot gain the intellect and therefore skills to uphold a job and therefore cannot provide for
themselves individually and their families. They find themselves victim of a vicious circle of acute poverty. This
situation that so many find themselves in places people in a terrible predicament. With no job or income,
thousands are confined to the poor quality housing in which they are constantly at risk.

The location of Haiti also contributed to the severity of the earthquake. Haiti is located directly on a tectonic
plate boundary. The Caribbean plate is surrounded by the North American and South American plates. Both are
attempting to move in relation to the Caribbean plate, which is a major issue. On the east of the Caribbean plate,
convergence is occurring. Subduction causes pressure to build up, resulting in violent earthquakes and closer to
Haiti, on a conservative plate margin, the plates ‘stick’ together, pressure builds up and earthquakes are created.
The main effects of a conservative plate boundary are fairly frequent and violent earthquakes. Being located on a
plate margin that creates numerous earthquakes, Haiti and its residents are at great risk from being struck by
seismic activity. The pressure that had built up on between the North American, South American and Caribbean
plates created a violent earthquake that had deadly effects, creating devastation all around.

Perhaps one of the most significant factors that made the Haitian earthquake so deadly was the time that it
struck occurred. The earthquake struck at 4:53 pm – the middle of the day, meaning that people were out and
about in Haiti. An earthquake that occurs mid-week will cause maximum damage to the affected area. During
peak working hours, a large concentration of people will be gathered near to the epicentre. People will be
collected within the urban areas, exposing them completely to any collapsing buildings, roads and bridges. This
was exactly the situation in Haiti. Many were in the urban area, commuting from work. People were caught up in
the high-rise buildings that collapsed and others were affected by damage to the roads. Thousands were caught
under rubble from the collapse of infrastructure and even more were stranded, left to die.

The level of development within Haiti resulted in the impacts of the earthquake being felt so much more. Haiti
has a low level of gross domestic product, which suggests that the living conditions in Haiti are less than
satisfactory. The majority of the population are poor and drowning in poverty. The country as a whole, due to its
low level of economic development, cannot afford to invest in earthquake resistant buildings or put in place
schemes of prediction and protection, such as monitoring of the earth’s surface and planning for evacuation. The
low life expectancy in Haiti is a result of a poor healthcare system. In LEDCs, health care is both hard to access
for those who need it and hard to administer. A lack of medicine and healthcare professionals means that in
events such as the earthquake of 2009, a large amount of people died. This could have been due to the rapid
spread and therefore contraction of disease and doctors and nurses’ lack of ability to deal with injuries and
administer healthcare effectively to the masses that required it in the event of an earthquake. The literacy rate in
Haiti is also extremely low compared to other countries. This suggests low education levels. The majority of the
population are not educated and therefore cannot do much with their lives. Many are forced to live in slums,
with no skills and therefore no job. Therefore they cannot cope in the event of an earthquake such as the one of
2009, which is why the event was as deadly as it was. In addition, the living conditions of the slums are
extremely poor. Levels of sanitation are as low as can be and in the event of the Haitian earthquake, this
increased the death toll.

The history of Haiti is another reason that the event of 2009 was so epic. Nowadays, Haiti is one of the poorest
countries in the world. Once the richest colony in the Americas, a slave revolt against the French in 1804
established Haiti as the world’s first black republic. Threatened by a possible invasion, Haiti decided to
compensate France for loss of property, creating a huge debt that took 120 years to repay! As a result, Haiti was
found in an on-going cycle of debt, dependence and instability. Three decades of dictatorship and military rule
plunged the country even deeper into debt and so Haiti become more and more vulnerable. In 1990, Jean-
Bertrand Aristide was elected as president, until a military coup forced him out of power and his supporters
were threatened by ‘death squads’. In 1994, Bill Clinton and US troops backed the return of Jean-Bertrand, only
if he agreed to a programme of economic adjustment that included downsizing, privatisation and de-regulation.
Immediately, tariffs were placed on foreign rice and subsidised US imports resulted in farmers being out of
business, having to move off their farms and into slums. Realising this, the UN decided to create a peace keeping
mission, to pacify the slum gangs that had become aggravated at the state that their country was now in. This
‘mission’, however, was very controversial and was accused of murder and creating terror within those it was
essentially meant to help and protect! In 2006, René Garcia Préval came into presidency, but Haiti was still
struggling for stability. The country only continued to suffer greatly in 2008, after four hurricanes led to the
deaths of approximately 800 people and $1 billion worth of extensive damage. It was only in 2009 that Haiti
began to improve, when financial institutions and the US finally cancelled their debt of $2.1 billion. However, it
was 2009 that the deadly earthquake struck. The grim history of the country just added to the sheer devastation
that the event caused. Morale in the country was and had been low for hundreds of years and just as the country
was about to re-build itself, they were struck down once again.

Haiti, being a multiple hazard location is a country prone to deadly earthquake events. The country has suffered
a number of hurricanes since 1980, including Hurricane Gilbert and Cindy and then Hurricane Ike and Hannah
in 2007. All resulted in millions of injuries and deaths.- multiple hazard location. In addition, more than half of
the Haitian population have to live on less than $2 a day and are unemployed. Perhaps most importantly, food
insecurities affect a quarter of the population of Haiti. The food and agriculture organisation has recently
branded Haiti one of the world’s most economically vulnerable countries and the World Food Programme is
required to serve one meal a day to 500,000 school children! As we can see, Haiti is a country that has many
issues to deal with. The majority of the population are knee-deep in poverty and are desperate for food, whilst
living in a country that is prone to severe seismic activity. How can they possibly protect themselves when they
are in such an impossible and hazardous situation?

Thus, to conclude we can see that a number of factors contributed to the deadliness of the Haitian earthquake of
2009. Perhaps the most important is the fact that Haiti is so under-developed economically. Haiti continues to
struggle to keep up with the more economically developed world and so they are helpless in the event of such an
immense earthquake. The extreme poverty that residents of Haiti are experiencing is partly due to the low level
of economic development within the country. With over half of the population unemployed, the economy cannot
possibly progress and so the country will never have either the resources or funding to protect themselves for
any future seismic events. However, improvements could be made for the future to ensure that if Haiti ever
experiences another earthquake, they can protect themselves to an extent. Stronger links could be made between
the country and foreign aid organisations. Far too often in less economically developed countries, people become
totally dependent on foreign aid and never learn to help themselves. The aid organisations need to work with the
country, so that rather than relying on aid from overseas, people can instead combine that aid with their own
attempts to protect themselves. In addition, the Government of Haiti need to invest in earthquake resistant
infrastructure. If they do so, they will ensure effective protection for the people of Haiti and in doing so, will
dramatically reduce the death toll in events such as the earthquake of 2009.