Haiti Earthquake: Why was it so deadly?
Ho-Hsuan Hsueh
April 8, 2012
In January 12, 2010, a huge earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the
Richter scale struck Haiti. Two hundred twenty thousand people were estimated
to have died from the natural disaster, while over three hundred thousand
more were injured. Although such destruction was unavoidable due to natural
causes, certain factors were particularly responsible for how devastating the
earthquake was to Haiti. These factors include geographical, economic, and
historical aspects of Haiti.
Geographically, Haiti is very susceptible to earthquakes. Haiti is part of
the island Hispaniola, which also consists of the Dominican Republic. It is
situated amidst Cuba and Puerto Rico, between the Caribbean Sea and the
Atlantic Ocean. Haiti also lies on the Caribbean plate, surrounded to the east by
the North American and South American plate. Because both of these (North and
South American) plates are moving west while Haiti is locked between,
conflicting plate boundaries occur. Figure 1 depicts the transform boundary
movement occurring between the North American and Caribbean plate mostly to
the north and west of Haiti, while to the east and south of Haiti convergent plate
boundary movement is shown.
[Figure 1] Tectonic plates surrounding Haiti
[Figure 2] Plate boundary movements
Figure 2 shows the direction of boundary movement between the North
American and Caribbean plate. As the Caribbean plate is converging upon the
North American plate in the western area, this causes the whole plate to turn and
thus the eastern area of the Caribbean plate pushes downwards. Transform
plate boundaries such as the one depicted to the west of Haiti occur when two
plates slide past each other, while convergent plate boundaries occur when
two plates move apart at a certain area.
[Figure 3] Fault lines and epicenter of Haiti earthquake
These plate boundaries seem to occur a large distance away from the
earthquake epicenter. As seen in Figure 3, the epicenter of the Haitian
earthquake was located very near Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, in contrast
to the plate boundaries seen in figure 2. However, it is not simply the movement
of these plates that cause earthquakes. The tectonic plates that make up earth’s
crusts are constantly moving very slowly, but edges of plates grinding against
each other sometimes become stuck from friction. This causes build-up of
tension, until it overcomes friction. This ‘slip’ occurs on a fault, and the release of
energy from slips is felt through earthquakes. In Figure 3, faults are presented by
fault lines, which mark faults that occur on the surface of the earth. Because of
the slip occurring on the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault, the earthquake
epicenter was near Port-au-Prince. The epicenter of an earthquake is the point
on the surface of the located exactly above the focus of the earthquake.
This geographical overview of Haiti indicates the main cause for the
severity of the earthquake on the Richter scale. However, the magnitude of the
earthquake was not the sole cause for the huge destruction the Haitian
earthquake caused. Let us compare the effects of the Haitian earthquake
compared to the effects of the Tohoku earthquake. Although the Tohoku
earthquake measured 9.0 in magnitude on the Richter scale, 2.0 higher than the
magnitude of the Haitian earthquake, various differences in health care,
infrastructure, and other important economic foundations draw apart both
countries’ ability to handle the situation in terms of self-recovery. For example,
Japan’s production of goods and services did not suffer heavily, experiencing a
2.3% increase in economic growth 5 months after the disaster occurred. Haiti, on
the other hand, experienced a negative 5.1% decline in economic growth from
the earthquake that year (year Haitian earthquake occurred). Certain economic
factors in Haiti are less developed than in Japan, causing this difference in
recovery.
In the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is the country struggling most
economically. In Figure 4, compared to 4 other countries that make up the
Greater Antilles Haiti had the lowest GDP per capita. Other economic indicators
of Haiti also suggest a poor economic status. For example, when comparing
various major economic indicators between MEDC and LEDC countries with
Haiti, the level of the country’s development can be seen.
[Figure 4] GDP per capita of 5 Greater Antilles countries
[Figure 5] MEDC/LEDC economic indicator comparison
[Figure 5] Haiti MEDC/LEDC economic indicator comparison
In Figure 5, a comparison of Haiti and MEDC countries Taiwan and Norway, as
well as LEDC country Niger, reveals Haiti to be a Less Economically Developed
Country, or LEDC. This is largely shown through its drastically smaller GDP per
capita compared to the More Economically Developed Countries Taiwan and
Norway, similar but slightly higher than Niger’s GDP per capita. Haiti’s poor
economy is also seen through its low literacy rate and total fertility rate, both
considerably worse than Taiwan and Norway. A high total fertility rate would
suggest income instability the population of a country, meaning that larger
families are necessary for income support from children (daughters/sons)
working at a young age. Low literacy rate would suggest a population with very
limited access to education because of financial reasons and/or desire to put
children into work at a young age.
[Figure 6] Haiti population pyramid 2010
The population pyramid of Haiti in 2010, as shown in Figure 6, depicts this
reasoning clearer. The graph shows a steep exponential decay from oldest to
youngest people of Haiti. This means that although birth rate is high, death rate
is also high as few percentage of the population live over 50 years old, suggesting
high infant mortality rate. This concave profile also reflects short life expectancy
from the low percentage of the population living over 50 years old.
This economic overview of Haiti outlines the poor economic status of the
country and provides a general understanding of Haiti’s disadvantages to dealing
with such a catastrophe such as the Haiti earthquake. However, several specific
problems within the economic system of Haiti had greater impacts on the
destructive level of the earthquake than others. The state of the country’s health
care, infrastructure, education, and government planning at the time of the
earthquake were key determinants.
Before the Haitian earthquake occurred in 2010, it is estimated that 46%
of the population of Haiti did not have health care access. This was because of
either financial reasons or lack of hospitals/health centers located near them.
Drug access is subsequently another issue, with 0 percent of Haiti’s population
having access to essential drugs to treat minor wounds or diseases. Not only
affordability of health care and medical attention a major concern for the people
of Haiti, but availability was also a main problem as well. With over three
hundred thousand injured Haitians to attend to, the country’s hospitals and
health care system received tremendous pressure. Days after the aftershock of
the earthquake, around one thousand people would be awaiting surgery at a
hospital. As many as twenty thousand people were estimated to have died from
gangrene and sepsis, caused by infections that could turn deadly if left untreated.
Thus, Haiti’s tremulous health care system was largely the cause for unnecessary
deaths after the earthquake, with survivors dying from wounds while waiting for
medical attention.
Haiti’s infrastructure is another key factor impacting the level of
destruction caused by the Haitian earthquake. According to Dr. Wassim
Ghannoum, 2012, an
assisting professor studying
civil engineering who
travelled to Port-au-Prince to
examine its
infrastructure,
“We saw the worst
case scenario in substandard
construction. Usually
we use deformed steel bars in
concrete, which helps
them bond to the concrete.
Most of the bars we
saw, maybe 80 percent, were
smooth so they just
slid through the concrete.
There was practically
no confining steel to keep the
concrete intact during
shaking. The concrete itself
was very sandy, with
very little cement. We could
crumble the concrete
with our hands.”
The concrete itself
was very sandy, with very
little cement. We
could crumble the
concrete with our hands.”
The concrete itself was very sandy, wiThe concrete itself was very sandy, with
very little cement. We could crumble the concrete with our hands.”
The concrete itself was very sandy, with very little cement. We could crumble
the concrete with our hands.”
The concrete