Extended Response Question: Why was the Haitian earthquake so deadly?
Geography ties into everything we understand about the world. It is the underlying conclusion to the questions we ask to develop our comprehension of the world. And there are many things that define geography, such as ecological footprint, bio-diversity, geology, ground water management, natural resources, political geography, globalization, and so on. The first definition we, as a class, investigated to start our geography unit was natural disasters.
Natural Disasters –
There are two kinds of natural disasters: disasters and hazards. Disasters are actualized and has happened. Disasters become disasters when the country cannot handle it by themselves. When countries have no choice but to call for help, it is a disaster. Some examples of natural disasters are earthquakes, hurricanes, and droughts. However, there are also human induced hazards. They are not natural and man-made like nuclear power plants, fires, skateboarding, and skiing.
Hazards are potential threats, so they have not happened yet but they are problems that are most likely going to happen. Examples of possible potential threats for Kobe are tsunamis and earthquakes. Tsunamis because Kobe is a port city. Earthquakes because Japan is located on the Ring of Fire, an earthquake-prone location. When a hazard event becomes actualized or occurred, there is a whole range of severity. Severity looks different depending on the location.
There are many scales and instruments to measure the severity of an earthquake. The Japanese use the Shindo scale which is constituted from 1 to 7. Each level of severity is determined by what a person feels during the earthquake. The Shindo scale takes into consideration spatial distribution but the level of severity is very difficult to grasp. Spatial distribution is the understanding that the severity of a location is not the exact same as another location. What the people felt during the Touhoku earthquake at Tokyo is not what people felt at Kobe. The Richter scale, which measures the severity of an earthquake by magnitude, is more reliable as it is used world-wide. However, it does not take into consideration of other areas besides the epicenter, or the spatial distribution. This scale is a logarithmic scale meaning that a little change means a very big severity. For example, a 7 on the Richter scale is 10-times worse than a 6 and so on. But the main cause of earthquakes is undeniably plate tectonics.
Plate Tectonics –
Plate tectonics are the pieces of the earth’s crust that always move and bump into each other. When two tectonic plates move away from each other, it is called divergent boundary. When two tectonic plates move towards each other, it is called convergent boundary. When two tectonics plates grind and move against each other, it is called transform boundary.
As you can seen from the maps, Haiti is situated at a very dangerous place. Haiti is on the Caribbean plate, which is located between the North American plate and the South American plate. Tectonic plates are always moving in a certain way. The North and South American plates are both moving towards the west which creates the convergent boundary between them. On the other hand, the North American plate and the Caribbean plate grind each other, and this creates a transform boundary.
Fault lines are the cracks on the plate tectonics:
Haiti was struck by an earthquake on January 12, 2010 because of the movements of the Caribbean plate, the North American plate, and the South American plate. This movement triggered the earthquake to occur The earthquake was also caused by the fault lines that surround the Hispaniola. Earthquakes most often happen near plate boundaries and along fault lines. As the tectonic plates move, the movement at the plate boundaries creates energy that is released along the fault lines. Because of the movements of the Caribbean plate, the North American plate, and the South American plate, the energy created from these movements was released along the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault line, specifically near Port-au-Prince. And this resulted in the Haitian earthquake of January 2010.
In addition to the tectonic plates and the fragile fault lines, Haiti is almost always hit by hurricanes. Here’s a diagram of how bad it is:
The Hispaniola is constantly hit by hurricanes and that means that infrastructure is destroyed every time there is a hurricane. The financial state of Haiti is not in a very good shape because of the never ending input of money into infrastructure. Even if the people build a building, a hurricane will come and damage it. After they fix the damage, another hurricane would problem come to damage it again. And the damage might be too serious to overlook so this becomes an endless cycle.
Vulnerability & Earthquakes
Three factors contribute to the vulnerability of people during an earthquake: the time, place, and the age of the person. The time determines a person’s vulnerability because what people do lies on what time of the day it is. The time controls everything we do. People are especially vulnerable during rush hours, in the morning (8:00~10:00) and in the evening (16:00~18:00), and during the night, when people sleep (21:00~6:00). Rush hour exposes people to be separated from their families and to be on a mode of transportation. Both causes people to be vulnerable. Where people are during an earthquake really affects the survival rate. During an earthquake, being out in the open (preferably a large field of grass, clovers, and dandelions) is the safest. Unfortunately, many cities don’t have field made up of grass, clovers, and dandelions. Depending on where people are, whether on a bridge, a mountain, or in a building, largely takes part in affecting the people’s vulnerability. How old a person also takes part in deciding the person’s vulnerability. The most vulnerable people are infants. They are the most helpless people during an earthquake. Next comes young children and the elderly. The third vulnerable people are older children and teenagers. Then women, and the most invulnerable people during an earthquake are men (because they are “buff” and “macho”). Everyone is vulnerable during an earthquake because of the time, place, and age of people and that deeply impacted the Haitians during the Haiti earthquake.
The Haiti earthquake can be the most disastrous earthquake ever because of the time it hit and where the people were at that time. The Haiti earthquake hit the epicenter at 16:53 (in Haiti time). This is rush hour, people are going home and almost everyone is separated from their families. People who were home might have been people who were not very well off and lived in shanty towns. Shanty towns have very poor infrastructure and the buildings are not stable at all. When the earthquake hit, the homes at the shanty towns most likely collapsed right away, burying people under debris. But who would be home? Most likely women who are housewives and unfortunate women who are mothers and were staying at home with a baby. During an earthquake, it is very dangerous to be near buildings because the structure might collapse. But it is very very very very very dangerous to be near a shanty town because of the extreme fragility of the structures. So, during the Haiti earthquake, families were not together because it was rush hour and women were most likely in their homes at shanty towns. Men, the breadwinners, and children would’ve been walking, moving towards their home and some might’ve been in a car, which by the way is much safer than being near a building. Evidently, timing is very crucial during an earthquake.
Haiti’s Level of Development
|
Country |
|||||
|
Development Indicator |
Haiti |
Norway |
Niger |
South Korea |
|
|
GDP per capita ($) |
1,200 |
53,300 |
800 |
31,700 |
|
|
Life Expectancy at Birth (years) |
62.51 |
80.32 |
53.8 |
79.3 |
|
|
Total Fertility Rate |
2.98 |
1.77 |
7.52 |
1.23 |
|
|
Literacy Rate (%) |
52.9 |
100 |
28.7 |
97.9 |
|
Haiti is known as the poorest country in the western hemisphere so it is an anomaly compared to the level of development of both North and South Americas. From the statistics, it is clearly shown that Haiti is indeed a LEDC, though it is in a slightly better condition than Niger.
Through education, people can learn and prepare for an earthquake. At school, in Canadian Academy, we have earthquake drills and tsunami drills to prepare ourselves for the possibilities of earthquakes and tsunamis because Japan frequently have earthquakes. Through drills, Haitians can learn how to protect themselves like we do. However, looking at the literacy rate of Haiti, it seems like children in school is an uncommon thing. This is unfortunate because the lack of education contributed to the cause of the high death toll. People were not informed nor prepared before hand by the government.
The government is advised to tell their people what to prepare for an earthquake such as canned food, drinking water, blankets, first aid, a flashlight, clothes, a radio, and if there are infants, diapers. These are basic resources needed for after an earthquake. BUT Haiti’s government cannot acquire these resources, because of the lack of funds and the lack of natural resources, specifically potable water. To establish a low death toll, it is best if the government of Haiti and the Haitians develop the communication between them. The government should communicate to the people through education and teach them drills, necessities for after an earthquake, and what to do during the golden hour. The golden hour is the hour right after the earthquake that people need to use to quickly and efficiently do what they have/should do and to go to a place that is safe and reunite with their families.
Haiti seems to have the first part of risk assessment down, which is to understand that Haiti is under a hazard. The second part to risk assessment is to actually starting to deal with that understanding, taking action. After risk assessment is risk mitigation, which is all of the efforts the government do for their people so that they do not suffer from the hazard. The Haitian government needs a plan to execute right after an earthquake, like MEDCs. MEDCs have a master plan that outlines everything that should be done to ensure safety and to rescue the injured. The Haitian government is in need for this but it is very difficult due to the lack of resources and the limited access to the resources.
Risk mitigation includes the resources that the people should have for after an earthquake, the knowledge about what actions would result in safety, doctors who can treat the injured, the medicines that would be provided for the doctors, and building codes. Building codes are the specific way buildings are constructed to reduce the risk of the building swaying and destroying everything inside it. Here’s a diagram:
The building on the left is the unsafe building which is what most buildings look like around the world. The Japanese people made the building code on the right to increase the safety of a building. As a MEDC, this was possible because they had the resources for risk mitigation. When they construct buildings, the Japanese people dig deeper than normal to put rollers underneath the building. These rollers will roll the building in that space during an earthquake. Also, the buildings have bracings along the sides of the building to keep the building intact when it is shaking. There is another concept and that is retro fitting, this is way to improve the old building code but it does not change the old building code to the newest model.
A piece of information that all Haitians should be educated on is that Haiti is earthquake prone, which is a hazard. There will always be earthquakes and if the government fails to communicate that to the Haitians, they are all doomed.
Haiti’s History
Haiti has had one of the most dramatic histories in the world. Haiti was colonized by the French and it was the most richest colony in the Americas. When the slave revolted against the French colonizers in 1804, it went downhill from there. From countless debts to oppressive governments to food riots and natural disasters, Haiti has never experienced true peace.
There are 5 main historic components that define Haiti as of today: high debt, military and dictatorships, hurricanes and other natural disasters, economic alteration, and early debt. Because Haiti constantly has debt to pay off, there is always a financial shortage which result in the government not being able to help its people. Military rule and dictatorships are usually very corrupt governments and that did not help Haiti’s financial state. Hurricanes and natural disasters damaged infrastructure over and over and over again and furthermore crippled Haiti’s finance. In the late 1990’s, economic changes like the reduction of trade tariffs and foreign imports kicked Haitian merchants out of business and mostly into shanty towns. After Haiti revolutionized in 1804, because of the threat of invasion from nearby countries, Haiti compensated France for the loss of property. This debt took 120 years to pay off. The consequences were unemployed Haitians as the agricultural sector became larger than the services sector and the industry sector combined.
So why was the Haitian earthquake so deadly?
The Haitian earthquake was very deadly because of Haiti’s geographic location, the lack of education, and its history.
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