Risk Assessment
- Seismically active area + history of destructive earthquakes
- No formal risk assessment (authorities)
- “Haitian emergency services would not be able to cope” (AUS gov’t)
Prediction
- “Fault line – end of seismic cycle + worst-case 7.2” (overseas seismologists, 2007)
- “High risk of major seismic activity” (other seismologists)
Preparation
- No action + emergency plans (authorities)
- Poor country – non-earthquake resistant shanty-type houses + transport + telecommunications infrastructure
- People not educated
Short Term
- Lack of information –> major confusion
- Lack of disaster response (authorities) -> blocked roads + traffic -> international rescue efforts restricted
- 2000 international rescuers after 1 week
- Badly damaged infrastructure
- 50+ hospitals + land/sea transport facilities + telecommunication
- -> Immediate relief & rescue efforts failed
- Minimal gov’t management of r & r
- 25% civil servants dead
- Roads blocked long time -> no access by disaster relief (food/water/tents/clothing)
- 1/3 HHs lost all food supply
- Lack of ramps -> planes with relief supplies could not unload
- Lack of fuel -> planes could not leave
- No temporary housing -> streets + self-built shanty towns
- 1.5M homeless -> relief camps
- Poor sanitation -> cholera outbreak
- Slow corpse removal -> disease
- No security -> stealing
- Lack of help -> 600,OOO left area (back to rural)
Long term
- Slow response (authorities + foreign NGOs)
- 6 MONTHS
- Humanitarian situation: still “emergency phase”
- 98% rubble remained -> Port-au-Prince impassable
- 1M still in relief camps
- Crime
- Building of new gov’t centre: not begun
- 1 YEAR
- No major rebuilding
- “Only 15% basic/temporary housing built” (Oxfam)
- 95% rubble remained -> no land for rebuilding
- 2 YEARS
- 500,000 homeless
- “Only 50% money pledged for reconstruction ($4.5bn) received” (UN)
- 1/5 jobs lost, not replaced -> ñunemployment
- Occasional cholera outbreaks
- Some schools/hospitals not rebuilt
Annissa's IGCSE & IB Notes 