Case Study of Haiti Earthquake 12th January 2010. 1. How many people were approximately killed? * Between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead and estimated 300,000 were injured 2. Why was the impact on Port au Prince significant? * The design and structure of buildings was of very poor quality which contributed to the high number of deaths 3. What are the names of the plates and type of plate boundary? * The Caribbean plate and the North American plate slipped past each other at a conservative plate boundary 4. Where were the epicentre and focus? * The focus of the earthquake was 13km (8.1 miles) below the surface of the earth. * The epicentre was 25km west of Port-Au-Prince and 130km east of Les Cayes, Haiti

5. What has been the historical earthquake activity in the region? * There have been roughly 7 major earthquakes in Haiti since the 1960’s 6. What causes amplification and liquifaction? Why were these processes significant? * Amplification refers to the level of shaking and is influenced by the softness of rocks and the thickness of surface sediments. * Liquefaction is a naturally occurring event in which the strength of soil is reduced by earthquake shaking and it reduces the soils ability to support structures thus making them more likely to collapse 7. How many people live in Port au Prince? * Approximately 704,776 people live in Port-Au-Prince as recorded in 2003 8. How many were left homeless?
– Around 1.5 million people were left homeless 9. What proportion of buildings collapsed? * According to the United Nations, between 30 and 60 percent of buildings in Port au Prince are severely damaged or collapsed 10. Why did so many buildings collapse? What is ‘pancaking’? * Because they were of very poor quality and were vulnerable to damage. Pancaking refers to catastrophic damage to buildings 11. How are ‘life safe’ buildings developed? * They are made from reinforced materials and adhere to strict building regulations 12. Why aren’t they used in LEDCs? * LEDC’S do not have sufficient funds to be able to build ‘life safe’ buildings 13. Why are rapidly growing cities like Port au Prince so vulnerable? * The primary reason is due to poor building structures and some people live in shanty towns which are constructed from weak and vulnerable materials * Corruption means that not all the money received by the government is spent on making buildings more secure and also individuals can bribe officials to circumvent the need to follow strict building regulations 14. How developed is Haiti? Use some key figures as evidence, do not use MEDC/LEDC. * 7.1% of the population live on less than $2 a day * Haiti was ranked as being the 15th most corrupt country in the world with a corruption perception index of 19 * Haiti ranks 59.5 in the Gini Coefficient index with the richest 10% of people receiving 47.83% of the nation's income while the poorest 10% receive less than 0.9% 15. How can low cost buildings be improved? * 16. Why was the response of the Haitian government so weak? * Damaged infrastructure prevented them from helping people 17. How did the international community respond? * International agencies such as Oxfam reached provided aid to 300,000 people in the first 3 months * The governments of the United States, the UK, Israel, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Brazil, Italy and Cuba[3] sent over 1,000 military and disaster relief personnel each 18. What were some of the criticisms of the dominant NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) like Oxfam? * 19. Why did cholera break out? * Haiti has poor infrastructure and sewage systems which meant that water was contaminated which led to the spread of cholera 20. 4 years later, what progress has been made to rebuild this part of Haiti? * 80% of debris generated by the earthquake removed by the government and people of Haiti and partners including the United Nations. * Nearly 200 schools completed with water and sanitation facilities in earthquake-affected areas * A new alert and response system put in place to detect and respond quickly to disease outbreaks * Nearly 3 million children under 10 vaccinated against polio, measles and rubella * 20,000 families returned to their neighborhoods

Resources http://www.coolgeography.co.uk/Alevel/AQA/Year%2013/Plate%20Tectonics/Earthquakes/LEDC%20Case%20study.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS4EMk_H0lQ or try alternative utube programmes on Haiti http://www.msf.org.uk/tectonic-activity-and-hazards-earthquakes Very long but excellent PPT from MSF
Geography Review PPT by David Redfern
AQA Geography A2 Student Book by Digby et al