LEDC Earthquake Case Study: Port-au-Prince, Haiti

LEDC Earthquake Case Study: Port-au-Prince, Haiti

1. Causes

   • 12th January 2010
     • 16:53 local time
   • Conservative Plate Margin
     • North American and Caribbean plate slid past each other
   • Magnitude: 7
     • Epicentre was 15 miles away from
     • Shallow focus earthquake
       • 13km deep

2. Effects

   • Social
     • 200,000 deaths
       • Pancaking of buildings
         • Buildings weren't designed well-no cross bracing or steel struts installed into concrete walls
         • Responsible for deaths and people becoming trapped
     • 1.5 million left homeless
     • 300,000 injured
     • Outbreak of cholera claimed hundreds of lives
     • Prison destroyed releasing over 4,000 inmates
   • Environmental
     • Ground type was not suitable to build on
       • Loose sediments such as soil and sand-amplification occured
     • Took only 60 seconds to level city
     • Buildings built on land susceptible to earthquakes
     • Land movement generated localised tsunamis-killed a total of 7 people

3. Responses

   • Short Term
     • 800,000 moved to aid camps
     • 120,000 tens and over a million tarpaulin shelters provided
     • Lack of immediate aid, people relied on themselves
   • Long Term
     • Support for 70% Haitians through cash/food-for-work projects
     • Temporary schools created
     • Water and sanitation eventually supplied

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