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Haiti Earthquake

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Why were so many people killed in the Haiti earthquake of 2010?
On the 12th of January 2010 at 16:53 local time, a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake had struck near Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti. This earthquake was caused by a plate boundary which had not caused an earthquake for 200 years. Most of the primary impacts of the earthquake included; 3,500,000 people being affected by the quake, 220,000 were estimated to have died, over 300,000 people were injured as well as 188,383 houses being rigorously damaged. 4,000 schools were damaged or destroyed and over 600,000 people left their home area in Port-au-Prince and mostly stayed with host families. After the quake there were 19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris in Port au Prince leaving 1.5 million people homeless. This earthquake has suffered for many years being known as one to cause the most wreckage and disturbance, however why did the strongest earthquake that ever hit earth at a richer scale of 9.5 only kill 1655 people compared to Haiti's death rate at 220,000?
Port au Prince, being the capital of Haiti unfortunately endured a lot of the wreckage due to the earthquake. Several of the important governmental structures of Port au Prince were destroyed or damaged, including the Presidential Palace, a parliament building and the Port au Prince Cathedral. Most of the city's community buildings were also destroyed. A large amount of the environmental society was in danger due to the fact of buildings and houses being mostly self-built. Unfortunately, the lack of material meant that houses where made of mostly breeze blocks and scrap with no foundations or rules restricting height, creating a very unstable structure. The very poor construction of homes and other buildings has been caused by the lack of money in Haiti. The economical situation in Haiti has made the recovery of the earthquake a lot harder to handle. The demoralizing earthquake has also affected the clean water supply in Haiti. Because of the flooding the water has been contaminated and the outbreak of cholera is at a very high possibility cause a lot of people to become sick and in need of aid.
Haiti being the poorest country in the whole of the western hemisphere has principally impacted the recuperation from the earthquake in 2010. Due to poor government situations Haiti is in an extremely difficult economical situation. Most of the citizens are uneducated making it harder to provide jobs for Haiti as well as general knowledge in order to protect the country in situations such as this disaster. The absents of formal jobs and education means that money cannot be made for the government. This is due to the informal political decisions. Very little government money has been spent on improving the quality of buildings, hospitals and roads. The government is unable to provide his country with enough money and supplies due to not having the skills to do so. Looking at the chart Haiti has had to put up with a large amount of the consequences from the earthquake however previous earthquakes have had quick recovery in the United States. The USA definitely has the money for warning systems etc. therefore had not been at great risk. The economy has put the whole country in jeopardy of not being able to provide aid, healthcare and safety for themselves as a nation because there is just not enough money. This shows that LEDC's such as Haiti will struggle to recover from disasters greater than MEDC's.
This earthquake did not only destroy buildings but effected everyone living in Haiti, people visiting Haiti and even those in other countries. Previous earthquakes have led many to move to Port au Prince, a very popular capital. However people were evacuated to safer places during the earthquake with their siblings as well as some family. Unfortunately they were unable to return due to the instability of homes and buildings, forcing many children to raise their siblings alone and live with other families. The outbreak of cholera had struck to many of the nation of Haiti causing even more deaths after the earthquake. This disease refers back to Haiti as the LEDC. The outbreak of cholera as well as finding accommodation for citizens of Haiti could be sorted if there was not a major economic problem. People would receive aid and medical care and temporary homes could be provided, helping the nation in its health as well as bringing it back to its original state. However, as a result of Haiti having road problems it had been very hard to receive medial help therefore more deaths ad occurred of injuries such as broken limbs. Rescue was provided from all around the world because people were correctly certain that Haiti were not going to be able to recuperate on their own. In the longer term there are still many missing, injured and homeless in Haiti.

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