The nation's history of national debt, prejudicial trade policies by other countries, and foreign intervention into national affairs, contributed to the existing poverty and poor housing conditions that increased the death toll from the disaster. The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other cities in the region. Notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard. The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi.
Introduction
2010 Haiti earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M on the Moment magnitude scale A magnitude 8.0 7.0 M . Magnitude 7.0 M
what happened after the earthquake in haiti 2010
user
By 24 January 2010, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake.
assistant
what was the richter scale of it?
user
On 12 January 2010, Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake, magnitude 7.0 with a death toll estimated by the Haitian government at over 300,000, and by non-Haitian sources from 50,000 to 220,000. Aftershocks followed, including one of magnitude 5.9. The capital city, Port-au-Prince, was effectively leveled. A million Haitians were left homeless, and hundreds of thousands starved. The earthquake caused massive devastation, with most buildings crumbled, including Haiti's presidential palace. The enormous death toll made it necessary to bury the dead in mass graves. Most bodies were unidentified and few pictures were taken, making it impossible for families to identify their loved ones.
History of Haiti | Earthquake 2010
The 2010 Haiti earthquake (; ) was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne (Ouest) and approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake. Death toll estimates range from 100,000 to about 160,000 to Haitian government figures from 220,000 to 316,000, although these latter figures are a matter of some dispute. The government of Haiti estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
On January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by an earthquake that registered 7.0 on the Richter Scale. Some estimates quoted the death toll as high as 300,000, with another 300,000 wounded and more than one million people left homeless. In a partnership with Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), Miyamoto International arrived shortly afterward to aid local professionals in the reconstruction. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) worked with the Haitian government and Miyamoto International in Port-au-Prince to assess the extent of the structural damage. Miyamoto International also trained locals in masonry and structural engineering so they could repair their homes or rebuild new quake-proof buildings.
Miyamoto International | 2010 Earthquake in Haiti
On 12 January 2010, Haiti experienced a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that caused heavy damage and casualties in Jacmel. The first temblor rocked the city at 4:40 pm, but the later temblor at 5:37 pm stopped the cathedral's clock. A Jacmel radio station estimated that at least 5000 were dead from the quake itself, although mayor Zennie Edwin later reported that the figure was closer to 300–500 deaths and 4,000 injured. About 70 per cent of the homes were damaged, with most of the heavier damage being in the poorer neighbourhoods. The town hall was so severely damaged that it had to be demolished.
Jacmel | 2010 Haiti earthquake
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded eight aftershocks in the two hours after the main earthquake, with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.9. Within the first nine hours, 32 aftershocks of magnitude 4.2 or greater were recorded, 12 of which measured magnitude 5.0 or greater; in addition, on 24 January, the US Geological Survey reported that there had been 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater since the main quake. On 20 January, at 06:03 local time (11:03 UTC), the strongest aftershock since the earthquake, measuring magnitude 5.9 M, struck Haiti. USGS reported its epicenter was about WSW of Port-au-Prince, which would place it almost exactly under the coastal town of Petit-Goâve.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Aftershocks
On January 12, 2010, at 21:53 UTC (4:53 PM local time) Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake, the country's most severe earthquake in over 200 years. The epicenter of the quake was just outside the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, in Léogâne. As the biggest slum of Port-au-Prince, Cité Soleil fared relatively well, as most of its cinder block and corrugated steel shacks survived. Médecins Sans Frontières reopened its Choscal Hospital (which operated between 2005 and 2007 during the gang war) in the heart of the slum within 24 hours. However, the area remained in desperate need of help, according to World Emergency Relief.
Cité Soleil | 2010 Haiti earthquake
On 12 January 2010, at 4:53pm local time, Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake. This was the country's most severe earthquake in over 200 years. The earthquake was reported to have left between 220,000 and 300,000 people dead and up to 1.6 million homeless. General elections had been planned for January 2010 but were postponed due to the earthquake. Elections were held on 28 November 2010 for the senate, the parliament and the first round of the presidential elections. The run-off between Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat took place on 20 March 2011, and preliminary results, released on 4 April, named Michel Martelly the winner.
Haiti | Post-Aristide era (2004–present)
A catastrophic earthquake (with a Richter score of 7) occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010. Less than two weeks after this devastating act of nature, Derose traveled on a private plane to his homeland of Haiti with a delegation of government officials, some of which included other notable Haitian-American officials. Upon arrival in Haiti, a sad Derose looked at the unrecognizable places that once appeared familiar and noted, "What man took many years to build, was gone, wiped out in a matter of seconds." Once the delegation reached the ravaged island-nation, they met with the central government in Haiti, consisting of Haitian and local officials including Parliament.
Philippe Derose | Earthquake in Haiti
There are concerns that the main earthquake could be the beginning of a new long-term sequence: "the whole region is fearful"; historical accounts, although not precise, suggest that there has been a sequence of quakes progressing westwards along the fault, starting with an earthquake in the Dominican Republic in 1751.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Aftershocks
According to estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey, approximately 3.5 million people lived in the area that experienced shaking intensity of MM VII to X, a range that can cause moderate to very heavy damage even to earthquake-resistant structures. Shaking damage was more severe than for other quakes of similar magnitude due to the quake's shallow depth. The quake occurred in the vicinity of the northern boundary where the Caribbean tectonic plate shifts eastwards by about per year in relation to the North American plate. The strike-slip fault system in the region has two branches in Haiti, the Septentrional-Oriente fault in the north and the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault in the south; both its location and focal mechanism suggested that the January 2010 quake was caused by a rupture of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault, which had been locked for 250 years, gathering stress.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Geology
On January 12, 2010, an earthquake with a scale of 7.0 struck Haiti just 10 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. According to Haitian government estimations, the earthquake killed or injured 616,000 people, damaged or destroyed 250,000 residences, and left 1,000,000 people homeless. In response to the disaster, PADF has helped assess the structural safety of more than 400,000 buildings, repaired more than 9,000 homes, and instituted more than 1,000 community development programs in what is the single largest effort in the organization's history. COVID-19 response
Pan American Development Foundation | 2010 Haiti earthquake response
Six months after the quake as much as 98% of the rubble remained uncleared. An estimated 26 million cubic yards (20 million cubic meters) remained, making most of the capital impassable, and thousands of bodies remained in the rubble. The number of people in relief camps of tents and tarps since the quake was 1.6 million, and almost no transitional housing had been built. Most of the camps had no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal, and the tents were beginning to fall apart. Crime in the camps was widespread, especially against women and girls. Between 23 major charities, US$1.1 billion had been collected for Haiti for relief efforts, but only two percent of the money had been released.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Status of the recovery
On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a devastating magnitude 7.0 M earthquake centered approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, leveled buildings throughout Haiti, including the "Peace of Mind" Hotel in Jacmel. McGarrell had just dropped off his godfather in Port-au-Prince and had stopped off at the hotel on his way to the FOSAJ center, where he both lived and worked. He was sitting with a visiting friend and fellow artist, Sue Frame, when the earthquake hit. and was killed as the building collapsed on top of him. He was apparently killed instantly. Frame ran out at the first tremor; McGarrell hesitated briefly, perhaps concerned for his laptop computer.
Flo McGarrell | Death
This is a list of populated places and structures affected by the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a magnitude 7.0 M earthquake that occurred on 12 January 2010, with an epicentre approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and affected an estimated three million people. The Haitian government estimated that 230,000 people died, 300,000 were injured and 1,000,000 made homeless by the quake. The earthquake caused extensive damage to infrastructure in southwestern Haiti—in February, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. The deputy mayor of Léogâne, at the epicentre of the earthquake, reported that 90 percent of buildings in the city were destroyed and Léogâne had "to be totally rebuilt." As much as 90 percent of Grand-Goâve was devastated, including all public buildings.
List of populated places affected by the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
Much of the Haitian government, including President Préval, relocated to a police barracks near Toussaint Louverture International Airport. The death toll estimates range from 100,000 to 316,000 people. Following the earthquake, President Préval was criticized at home and abroad for his allegedly weak disaster response; his critics included U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN).
René Préval | 2010 earthquake
The Mercalli scale also made it difficult to rate earthquakes that happened in remote, sparsely populated areas. The scale developed by Richter and Gutenberg (which became known by Richter's name only) was instead an absolute measure of an earthquake's intensity. Richter used a seismograph, an instrument generally consisting of a constantly unwinding roll of paper, anchored to a fixed place, and a pendulum or magnet suspended with a marking device above the roll, to record actual earth motion during an earthquake. The scale takes into account the instrument's distance from the epicenter, or the point on the ground that is directly above the earthquake's origin.
Charles Francis Richter | Richter magnitude scale
The timeline of rescue efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010 involves the sequence of events in the days following a highly destructive 7.0 Mw earthquake with an epicenter west of the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. With at least 70% of the city's buildings destroyed, the earthquake also caused damage and loss of life in other parts of the country. The Haitian government experienced a near-collapse and affected people were left mostly to their own resources until foreign aid arrived in the following days. Initial death toll estimates ranged between 50,000 and 200,000.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
A magnitude 7.0 quake with countless aftershocks struck the island nation of Haïti on January 12, 2010. Nearly 300,000 people perished in the highly populated Caribbean nation, and an assessment team was immediately deployed to the impoverished nation. The earthquake, centered 15 km from the capitol of Port-au-Prince caused tremendous devastation to vast areas of the country. CMAT's initial assessment team conducted intense reconnaissance in the capitol and in the environs, meeting with United Nations officials, and other partner organizations. In collaboration with Canadian Armed Forces, CMAT based its field hospital operation in the city of Léogâne, approximately 35 southwest from Port-au-Prince.
Canadian Medical Assistance Team | 2010 Haiti earthquake, Haiti
The earthquake occurred on 12 January 2010 approximately WSW from the country's capital Port-au-Prince at 16:53 UTC-5 on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. The earthquake was measured a magnitude of 7.0 M earthquake and was followed by a series of aftershocks, fourteen of them between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.9. The main area affected by the quake was Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region, although it was also felt in several surrounding countries and regions including Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the neighbouring country of Dominican Republic. No casualties were reported outside of Haiti. Much of Port-au-Prince's infrastructure was significantly damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, hospitals, schools and the main prison.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Background
The magnitude 7.0 M earthquake occurred inland, on 12 January 2010 at 16:53 (UTC−05:00), approximately WSW from Port-au-Prince at a depth of on blind thrust faults associated with the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system and lasted less than 30 seconds. There is no evidence of surface rupture; based on seismological, geological and ground deformation data, it is also thought that the earthquake did not involve significant lateral slip on the main Enriquillo fault. Strong shaking associated with intensity IX on the Modified Mercalli scale (MM) was recorded in Port-au-Prince and its suburbs. It was also felt in several surrounding countries and regions, including Cuba (MM III in Guantánamo), Jamaica (MM II in Kingston), Venezuela (MM II in Caracas), Puerto Rico (MM II–III in San Juan), and the bordering Dominican Republic (MM III in Santo Domingo).
2010 Haiti earthquake | Geology
Calculating the exact number of casualties in the earthquake is an "impossible" task due to the mass number of victims and a lack of a centralized system for tabulating casualties. In the weeks following the earthquake there were a number of estimate figures, ranging from the low tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands. On 12 January, Haitian prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive stated that the death toll could be "well over 100,000". On 15 January, the Red Cross stated that 40,000–50,000 may have died, while Haitian interior minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé estimated that the dead were between 100,000–200,000. On 17 January, Bien-Aimé stated that there were "around 50,000 dead bodies" and "there will be between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in total, although we will never know the exact number." Prime Minister Bellerive then announced that over 70,000 bodies have been buried in mass graves.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Calculating casualties
Rescue efforts began in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, with able-bodied survivors extricating the living and the dead from the rubble of the many buildings that had collapsed. Treatment of the injured was hampered by the lack of hospital and morgue facilities: the Argentine military field hospital, which had been serving MINUSTAH, was the only one available until 13 January. Rescue work intensified only slightly with the arrival of doctors, police officers, military personnel and firefighters from various countries two days after the earthquake. From 12 January, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been working in Haiti since 1994, focused on bringing emergency assistance to victims of the catastrophe.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Rescue and relief efforts
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.
Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour) | Background
A UN representative reported that the aftershock collapsed seven buildings in the town. According to staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which had reached Petit-Goâve for the first time the day before the aftershock, the town was estimated to have lost 15% of its buildings, and was suffering the same shortages of supplies and medical care as the capital. Workers from the charity Save the Children reported hearing "already weakened structures collapsing" in Port-au-Prince, but most sources reported no further significant damage to infrastructure in the city. Further casualties are thought to have been minimal since people had been sleeping in the open.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Aftershocks
The earthquake struck in the most populated area of the country. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimated that as many as 3 million people had been affected by the quake. In mid February 2010, the Haitian government reported the death toll to have reached 230,000. However, an investigation by Radio Netherlands has questioned the official death toll, reporting an estimate of 92,000 deaths as being a more realistic figure. On the first anniversary of the earthquake, 12 January 2011, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the death toll from the quake was more than 316,000, raising the figures from previous estimates.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Casualties
The earthquake struck in the most populated area of the country and the International Red Cross estimated that as many as 3 million people have been affected by the quake, including injuries and deaths. One factor that contributed to the number casualties in the aftermath of the earthquake was a lack of medical supplies, damage to hospitals, and a shortage of medical and rescue personnel. In addition, Haitian and foreign medical staff, police, and military personnel themselves became victims of the earthquake. An example of this was Port-au-Prince's Grace Children's Hospital, where it was reported on 19 January that of 120 employees, only six had been accounted for and some had been confirmed killed.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Response and treatment of casualties
The largest earthquake ever recorded in Haiti's history occurred on January 12, 2010 and registered 7.0 on the Richter scale. The quake centered 15 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince and caused catastrophic damage. U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth H. Merten issued a disaster declaration and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) became the lead agency for the U.S. government's response to the disaster. USAID authorized $50,000 for the initial implementation of an emergency response program. The U.S. government also established an interagency task force to coordinate search and rescue efforts, logistics and infrastructure support, provision of assistance, and conducting needs assessments.
Haiti–United States relations | U.S. response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake
In the nights following the earthquake, many people in Haiti slept in the streets, on pavements, in their cars, or in makeshift shanty towns either because their houses had been destroyed, or they feared standing structures would not withstand aftershocks. Construction standards are low in Haiti; the country has no building codes. Engineers have stated that it is unlikely many buildings would have stood through any kind of disaster. Structures are often raised wherever they can fit; some buildings were built on slopes with insufficient foundations or steel supports. A representative of Catholic Relief Services has estimated that about two million Haitians lived as squatters on land they did not own.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Conditions in the aftermath
According to a CBS report, US$3.1 billion had been pledged for humanitarian aid and was used to pay for field hospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers. By May 2010, enough aid had been raised internationally to give each displaced family a cheque for US$37,000. In July 2010, CNN returned to Port-au-Prince and reported, "It looks like the quake just happened yesterday", and Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the United Nations office of humanitarian affairs in Haiti, said that "six months from that time it may still look the same." Land ownership posed a particular problem for rebuilding because so many pre-quake homes were not officially registered.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Status of the recovery
On 7 May 1842, an earthquake destroyed most of the city and other towns in the north of Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic. Among the buildings destroyed or significantly damaged was the Sans-Souci Palace. Ten thousand people died in the earthquake. Its magnitude is estimated as 8.1 on the Richter scale.
Cap-Haïtien | 1842 Cap-Haïtien earthquake
Following the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the museum building was only slightly damaged due in part to its semi-buried construction, making it less prone to destruction.
Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien | 2010 earthquake
Ships were also unable to render aid because the port facilities had been too damaged. The Port-au-Prince morgue became overwhelmed with thousands of dead bodies that were laid outside on the streets and sidewalks. Aid workers began to concentrate on identification and disposal of corpses. Concerns were also raised by a representative from Oxfam that aid workers may be overwhelmed with rampant crime from gangs who had taken over the country, which prompted the UN to intervene to restore some order.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 14 January 2010
In Gressier, 40–50 percent of buildings were destroyed; the same in the worst-affected areas of Carrefour. Jacmel, the capital of Sud-Est department, also was heavily affected; 70 percent of homes in the city were damaged according to the mayor of Jacmel, as well as the airport, hospital and city hall building. Many landmark buildings were damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building (Palais Législatif), the Supreme Court building (Palais de Justice) and the Holy Trinity and Port-au-Prince Cathedrals. Port-au-Prince's main port and airport, the Port international de Port-au-Prince and Toussaint Louverture International Airport also suffered severe damage, as did Killick, the Haitian Coast Guard's base in the capital city.
List of populated places affected by the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
The country also suffered from shortages of fuel and potable water even before the disaster. President Préval and government ministers used police headquarters near the Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport as their new base of operations, although their effectiveness was extremely limited; several parliamentarians were still trapped in the Presidential Palace, and offices and records had been destroyed. Some high-ranking government workers lost family members, or had to tend to wounded relatives. Although the president and his remaining cabinet met with UN planners each day, there remained confusion as to who was in charge and no single group had organized relief efforts as of 16 January.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Conditions in the aftermath
A man is rescued from the rubble in central Port-au-Prince two weeks after the earthquake, although, he claimed to have been trapped in a later aftershock. Brazilian troops distributed food at the tent city next to the Palais National had to use tear gas and pepper spray because of unruly crowds. France has offered to rebuild the Presidential Palace, as it was.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 26 January 2010
However, a study published in May 2010 suggested that the rupture process may have involved slip on multiple blind thrust faults with only minor, deep, lateral slip along or near the main Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone, suggesting that the event only partially relieved centuries of accumulated left-lateral strain on a small part of the plate-boundary system. The rupture was roughly long with mean slip of . Preliminary analysis of the slip distribution found amplitudes of up to about using ground motion records from all over the world.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Geology
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake include both civilian and government officials, locals and foreigners – however the overwhelming majority of those killed and wounded in the quake were Haitian civilians. A number of public figures died in the earthquake, including government officials, clergy members, musicians, together with foreign civilian and military personnel working with the United Nations. On 15 January, the Red Cross estimated the death toll at between 45,000 and 50,000, however by 24 January, Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said the death toll was over 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area alone. Haitian president René Préval reported on 27 January that "nearly 170,000" bodies had been counted.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in the department, the largest in Haiti in two centuries. In the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, many areas suffered damage. In the Léogâne Arrondissement, the city of Léogâne suffered 80-90% destruction. Other places in Léogâne were also affected.
Ouest (department) | 2010 7.0 earthquake
In January 2011, one year after the quake, Oxfam published a report on the status of the recovery. According to the report, relief and recovery were at a standstill due to government inaction and indecision on the part of the donor countries. The report stated: "One year on, only five percent of the rubble has been cleared and only 15 percent of the required basic and temporary houses have been built. House building on a large scale cannot be started before the enormous amount of rubble is cleared. The government and donors must prioritize this most basic step toward helping people return home".
2010 Haiti earthquake | 2011
The buildings of the finance ministry, the ministry of education, the ministry of public works, the ministry of communication and culture, the Palais de Justice (Supreme Court building), the Superior Normal School, the National School of Administration, the Institut Aimé Césaire, the Palais Législatif (National Assembly building) and Port-au-Prince Cathedral were damaged to varying degrees. The National Palace (Presidential mansion) was severely damaged, though President René Préval and his wife Elisabeth Delatour Préval, who were about to enter their house when it "just fell", escaped injury. The Prison Civile de Port-au-Prince was also destroyed, allowing 4,000 inmates to escape into the streets.
Damage to infrastructure in the 2010 Haiti earthquake | General infrastructure
On 12 January 2010, a large earthquake hit Haiti. The school was totally destroyed by it. The three buildings (kindergarten, primary, and secondary school), as well as the learning center for young seminarians and the chapel library and administrative office, were all either damaged beyond repair or completely knocked down. But though the school's buildings were hit, the students and their teachers prevailed, with lessons starting again in April 2010. However the reputation of good formation, provided by the school is still the same.
Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial | Earthquake
In 2016 Haiti was struck by Hurricane Matthew which leveled entire communities and caused an upsurge in the ongoing cholera epidemic which was introduced to the island by United Nations peacekeepers. As of March 2017, around 7% of Haiti's population (around 800,665 people) have been affected with cholera, and 9,480 Haitians have died.
2010 Haiti earthquake | 2016
On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti caused heavy damage to residential buildings in Carrefour, with 40 to 50 per cent of buildings destroyed in the town's worst-affected areas. One of the damaged facilities was the city's hospital. In the wake of the quake, the Cuban military set up a field hospital in the region. Electricity was restored to some sectors at the beginning of February. As of 9 February 2010, the US 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is rotating out of Haiti, having been replaced by the US 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, in their position on and Carrefour, Léogâne, Grand-Goâve and Petit-Goâve.
Carrefour, Ouest | 2010 earthquake
It worked with its partners within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, particularly the Haitian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders; MSF) reported that the hospitals that had not been destroyed were overwhelmed by large numbers of seriously injured people. The hospitals had to perform many amputations. Running short of medical supplies, some teams had to work with any available resources, constructing splints out of cardboard and reusing latex gloves. Other rescue units had to withdraw as night fell, amid security fears. Over 3,000 people had been treated by Médecins Sans Frontières as of 18 January.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Rescue and relief efforts
Several experts have questioned the validity of the death toll numbers; Anthony Penna, professor emeritus in environmental history at Northeastern University, warned that casualty estimates could only be a "guesstimate", and Belgian disaster response expert Claude de Ville de Goyet noted that "round numbers are a sure sign that nobody knows." Edmond Mulet, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said, "I do not think we will ever know what the death toll is from this earthquake", while the director of the Haitian Red Cross, Jean-Pierre Guiteau, noted that his organization had not had the time to count bodies, as their focus had been on the treatment of survivors.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Casualties
On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in the arrondissement, the largest in Haiti in two centuries. The city of Port-au-Prince suffered much damage, and estimates of upwards of 50,000 deaths, with many facilities destroyed. In Pétion-Ville, the earthquake collapsed a hospital in the city. In Carrefour, half of the buildings were destroyed in the worst-affected areas. Roughly half the structures were destroyed in Gressier.
Port-au-Prince Arrondissement | 2010 7.0 earthquake
The complications of coming up with an accurate casualty count were revealed in an interview by "The New York Times" reporters with the employees at the mortuary in the largest hospital in Port-au-Prince. In the interview, Alix Lassegue, the head physician at the morgue, provided a rough estimate of the number of bodies that had been passed through the mortuary by tabulating the square yardage of the area where bodies had been placed and the space that each body occupied times the number of times bodies were removed from the grounds. Lassegue's estimate was an even 10,000. Other employees estimated the number of bodies that had passed through the morgue as 75,000, 50,000 and 25,000.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Calculating casualties
Several days after the quake Haitian authorities estimated the number of injured at 250,000. According to Belgian disaster emergency medicine expert Claude de Ville de Goyet "round numbers are a sure sign that nobody knows." Haitian president René Préval reported on 27 January that "nearly 170,000" bodies had been counted. On 10 February the Haitian government reported the death toll to have reached 230,000. However, an investigation by Radio Netherlands has questioned the official death toll, reporting an estimate of 92,000 deaths as being a more realistic figure. Other officials did not even attempt to provide a casualty estimate. Edmond Mulet, who was appointed head of the United Nations after the quake, stated that "I don’t think we will ever know what the death toll is from this earthquake." And the director of the Haitian Red Cross, Guiteau Jean-Pierre, noted that his organization didn't "have time to count" bodies, as they were too busy trying to treat survivors.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Calculating casualties
Compounding the problem of calculating casualties was that people were burying the dead in informal graves and many bodies had been thrown into dumps outside the city. In addition, thousands of people were leaving areas affected by the earthquake, without any centralized method of tabulating who had left. The most reliable academic estimate of the number of earthquake casualties in Haiti (over 95% were in the immediate Port-au-Prince area) "within six weeks of the earthquake" appears to be the 160,000 estimate in a 2010 University of Michigan study.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Calculating casualties
All hospitals were destroyed or so badly damaged that they were abandoned. In addition, the facilities of foreign governments and non-government organizations were badly damaged in the quake, including the headquarters of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which was destroyed.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Background
Damage to infrastructure in the 2010 Haiti earthquake was extensive and affected areas included Port-au-Prince, Petit-Goâve, Léogâne, Jacmel and other settlements in southwestern Haiti. In February Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. The deputy mayor of Léogâne, which was at the epicenter of the earthquake, reported that 90% percent of the buildings in that city had been destroyed and Léogâne had "to be totally rebuilt." Many notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail.
Damage to infrastructure in the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
The first of three massive Red Cross Red Crescent basic health care emergency response units (ERUs) arrived on 16 January 2010. The ERU is designed to provide basic and immediate health care to 30,000 people. So far, 14 ERUs have been deployed to Haiti, with most expected to arrive in the coming days. They include water and sanitation units, logistic units, IT and telecommunication infrastructure, and a massive 250-bed hospital.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 17 January 2010
On January 12, 2010 an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 M shook Haiti. It has been estimated that the lives of 3 million people have been effected by the event. Within two days, Afya shipped a 40-foot container holding mattresses, respirators, backboards, and surgical packs to aid the ailing nation. Through their collaboration with Partners in Health, Afya shipped 2500 pounds of supplies via airplane, along with four additional 40-foot containers within two weeks of the initial event. On January 28, 2010 Afya shipped its sixth container to Haiti, increasing the amount of supplies sent by Afya to over 400,000 pounds of vital supplies targeted to relief workers to aid them in their amazing efforts.
Afya Foundation | Response to 2010 Haiti earthquake
The island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is seismically active and has a history of destructive earthquakes. During Haiti's time as a French colony, earthquakes were recorded by French historian Moreau de Saint-Méry (1750–1819). He described damage done by an earthquake in 1751, writing that "only one masonry building had not collapsed" in Port-au-Prince; he also wrote that the "whole city collapsed" in the 1770 Port-au-Prince earthquake. Cap-Haïtien, other towns in the north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the Sans-Souci Palace were destroyed during an earthquake on 7 May 1842. A magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the Dominican Republic and shook Haiti on 4 August 1946, producing a tsunami that killed 1,790 people and injured many others.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Background
On 21 February, Preval raised that estimate to 300,000. In February, prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimated that 300,000 had been injured. Speaking in Miami in June 2010, Bellerive also estimated the number of deaths had been 300,000. On the first anniversary of the quake, Bellerive raised the death toll to 316,000. He said that was, in part, because of the recovery of additional bodies. A University of Michigan study in 2010 estimated about 160,000 deaths.
Casualties of the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
The delivery of aid to those suffering in Haiti remains problematic. Haitian burial workers continued to fill mass graves. Earth-moving equipment was used to dig the graves, and up to 10,000 bodies were buried in a single day. Downhillers for Haiti was set up, and the bibs of alpine skiers for the Saturday event at Kitzbühel were to be auctioned off on the internet. They would be signed by the skiers.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 21 January 2010
According to Jean-Robert Saget, Haitian ambassador to Germany, Gaillard was killed in the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Gaillard, who was attending a meeting at the Ministry of Justice when the quake struck, survived the initial disaster but died of his injuries a day and a half later, at roughly 4:15am on January 14.
Micha Gaillard | 2010 earthquake
A 22-day-old baby girl was found in the ruins of the Jacmel hospital's maternity ward, by Colombian rescuers. Her parents were unable to get news about her since the earthquake struck. The girl was found many days beyond the usual survival period of three days without water.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 19 January 2010
A rescue team sent by the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command established a field hospital which included specialised facilities to perform surgery, treat children, the elderly, and women in labour near the United Nations building in Port-au-Prince. It was set up in eight hours and began operations on the evening of 16 January. French Navy vessel "Francis Garnier" left Martinique on 15 January 2010 carrying 60 Army personnel, land vehicles, and excavators. She stopped over at Guadeloupe to load further resources, and departed for Haiti on 16 January 2010. French cooperation minister Alain Joyandet had to liaise with the US embassador in Paris after a French airplane carrying a field hospital was prevented from landing at Port-au-Prince airport.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 16 January 2010
On January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake, the country's most severe earthquake in over 200 years. The epicenter of the quake was just outside the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Over 230,000 civilians have been confirmed dead by the Haitian government because of the disaster and around 300,000 have been injured. Approximately 1.2 million people are homeless and it has been reported that the lack of temporary shelter may lead to the outbreak of disease. To raise money for earthquake victims, a new celebrity version of "We Are the World" was recorded on February 1, 2010, and released on February 12, 2010.
We Are the World | 25 for Haiti
Haitian Rescuers searched collapsed buildings for victims. The wounded were taken to hospital in ambulances, police pickup trucks, wheelbarrows, and improvised stretchers. Many hospitals collapsed: on 13 January 2010, the Argentine military field hospital remained open in Port-au-Prince, and it was struggling to attend to the huge numbers of injured. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) reported that at least two hospitals were still in good shape, and their doctors would begin treating about 500 people who needed emergency surgery. Bodies of the victims were piled on the streets. Heavy equipment was needed to dig through the ruins; many people were still trapped in collapsed buildings.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 13 January 2010
The earthquake was felt over a wide area, including southern Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and across the Antilles. The estimated intensity reached IX (violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale along the northern coast from Cap-Haïtien to Santiago de los Caballeros. The earthquake appears to have been caused by movement on the Septentrional Fault, with the rupture extending from the Cibao valley in the present day Dominican Republic, along the whole of the northern coast of Haiti.
1842 Cap-Haïtien earthquake | Earthquake
The Coast Guard Cutter "Mohawk" also arrived in the coastal waters of Haiti on Wednesday afternoon. The International Committee of the Red Cross set up a special website to facilitate family contacts, which allowed people in Haiti and abroad to register the names of relatives whom they wanted to contact. It incorporated responses to those queries as they became available. Catholic Relief Services, which has worked in Haiti for 50 years, prepared food and other aid to help those affected, committing US $5 million to help survivors.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 13 January 2010
At the time when Richter began a collaboration with Gutenberg, the only way to rate shocks was a scale developed in 1902 by the Italian priest and geologist Giuseppe Mercalli. The Mercalli scale uses Roman numerals and classifies earthquakes from I to XII, depending on how buildings and people responded to the tremor. A shock that set chandeliers swinging might rate as a I or II on this scale, while one that destroyed huge buildings and created panic in a crowded city might count as an X. The obvious problem with the Mercalli scale was that it relied on subjective measures of how well a building had been constructed and how used to these sorts of crises the population was.
Charles Francis Richter | Richter magnitude scale
On October 6, 2018, at approximately 8:11 p.m, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck 19 kilometers northwest of Port-de-Paix, Haiti. The earthquake damaged structures and killed 18 people. The earthquake was the strongest to hit Haiti since January 12, 2010, not including the aftershocks of the 2010 earthquake, and the shaking was felt as far away as Port-au-Prince.
2018 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
The nation's history of national debt, prejudicial trade policies by other countries, and foreign intervention into national affairs, contributed to the existing poverty and poor housing conditions that increased the death toll from the disaster. The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other cities in the region. Notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard. The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
Canadian military firefighters are inspecting buildings in Jacmel to ascertain which are structurally sound and usable.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 24 January 2010
As a comparison, the 7.0 M 2010 Haiti earthquake had an estimated PGA of 0.5"g". The acceleration occurred mainly in a vertical direction, with eyewitness accounts of people being tossed into the air. The upwards (positive acceleration) was greater than the downwards, which had a maximum recording of 0.9"g"; the maximum recorded horizontal acceleration was 1.7"g" The force of the earthquake was "statistically unlikely" to occur more than once in 1000 years, according to one seismic engineer, with a PGA greater than many modern buildings were designed to withstand. Although the rupture was subsurface, satellite images indicated that the net displacement of the land south of the fault was 50 cm westwards and upwards; the land movement would have been greater during the earthquake.
2011 Christchurch earthquake | Intensity
It was significantly affected by the 12 January 2010 earthquake. On 20 January a strong aftershock of magnitude 5.9 M struck Haiti. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that its epicenter was almost exactly under Petit-Goâve. The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported that the magnitude of the aftershock was 6.1, but they later revised that figure to 5.9 On the 19th, authorized by the Haitian government, 1300 US Marines were deployed equally between Petit-Goâve and Grand-Goâve. Spanish amphibious assault ship "Castilla" is to arrive at Petit-Goâve beginning in February to assist in recovery efforts. As of 9 February 2010, the US 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is rotating out of Haiti, having been replaced by the US 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, in their position on and Carrefour, Léogâne, Petit-Goâve, and Grand-Goâve.
Petit-Goâve | January 2010 earthquake
They also worked to push the international community to recognize the wave of evictions from camps that started as early as three months after the earthquake and to put protections in place, but little was done in response.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Status of the recovery
Prior to the development of the magnitude scale, the only measure of an earthquake's strength or "size" was a subjective assessment of the intensity of shaking observed near the epicenter of the earthquake, categorized by various seismic intensity scales such as the Rossi-Forel scale. ("Size" is used in the sense of the quantity of energy released, not the size of the area affected by shaking, though higher-energy earthquakes do tend to affect a wider area, depending on the local geology.) In 1883 John Milne surmised that the shaking of large earthquakes might generate waves detectable around the globe, and in 1899 E.
Richter magnitude scale | Development
The United Nations peacekeeping force, widely believed responsible for the cholera outbreak, continues to refuse to accept responsibility, however, they have launched a $2.2 billion initiative to combat cholera and the construction of a $17 million teaching hospital in Mirebalais which will employ 800 Haitians and treat 185,000 people. By the beginning of the year only a small part—$215 million—of the total funds collected for aid had been spent on permanent housing, with most of it—$1.2 billion—going for short-term solutions including tent camps, temporary shelters, and cash grants that paid a year's rent. A 2013 survey disclosed that of the 1.5 million Haitians living in camps following the quake, about 279,000 remained in a total of 352 camps.
2010 Haiti earthquake | 2013
The government handed over control of the airport to the United States to hasten and ease flight operations, which had been hampered by the damage to the air traffic control tower. Almost immediately Port-au-Prince's morgue facilities were overwhelmed. By 14 January, a thousand bodies had been placed on the streets and pavements. Government crews manned trucks to collect thousands more, burying them in mass graves. In the heat and humidity, corpses buried in rubble began to decompose and smell. Mati Goldstein, head of the Israeli ZAKA International Rescue Unit delegation to Haiti, described the situation as "Shabbat from hell. Everywhere, the acrid smell of bodies hangs in the air.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Conditions in the aftermath
Opération Séisme Haiti 2010 ("Operation Haiti Earthquake 2010") is France's military relief operation for the 12 January 2010 earthquake. The priorities for the mission are rescue efforts, search for the missing, medical aid, security, retrieving French citizens, organizing humanitarian aid, and delivery. The operation started on Wednesday 13 January 2010.
Opération Séisme Haiti 2010 | Introduction
Minister of Education Joel Jean-Pierre stated that the education system had "totally collapsed". About half the nation's schools and the three main universities in Port-au-Prince were affected. More than 1,300 schools and 50 health care facilities were destroyed. The earthquake also destroyed a nursing school in the capital and severely damaged the country's primary midwifery school. The Haitian art world suffered great losses; artworks were destroyed, and museums and art galleries were extensively damaged, among them Port-au-Prince's main art museum, Centre d'Art, College Saint Pierre and Holy Trinity Cathedral.
2010 Haiti earthquake | General infrastructure
The earthquake was recorded as 5.8 on the Richter magnitude scale (5.3 on the moment magnitude scale) and a maximum intensity of VII ("Very strong") on the Mercalli intensity scale. An intensity of VII means people have difficulty standing, drivers feel their cars shaking, some furniture breaks and loose bricks fall from buildings. Damage is slight to moderate in well-built buildings; considerable in poorly built buildings. The earthquake was not evenly spread as some areas were hit harder than others. This earthquake could be felt as far away as the Czech Republic, Switzerland, France and England.
1992 Roermond earthquake | Intensity
Cuba lifted airspace restrictions to allow US airplanes to save time transporting critically wounded Haitians to the US. Médecins Sans Frontières reported that the need for medical services at their two hospitals was "overwhelming". Although it had been badly damaged, the Hotel Villa Creole in Port-au-Prince was transformed into a hospital and media center; journalists used the drained swimming pool as an operating base, and Hope for Haiti and the International Medical Corps started a makeshift clinic for the wounded. The Dominican Institute of Communications set up a cell tower using a satellite link, to replace towers damaged by the quake.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 15 January 2010
On 12 January 2010, a 7.0 earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, devastating the city. Most of the central historic area of the city was destroyed, including Haiti's prized Cathédrale de Port-au-Prince, the capital building, Legislative Palace (the parliament building), Palace of Justice (Supreme Court building), several ministerial buildings, and at least one hospital. The second floor of the Presidential Palace was thrown into the first floor, and the domes skewed at a severe tilt. The seaport and airport were both damaged, limiting aid shipments. The seaport was severely damaged by the quake and was unable to accept aid shipments for the first week.
Port-au-Prince | 2010 earthquake
In 2017, the United Nations reported that 2.5 million Haitians were still in need of humanitarian aid. U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Mourad Wahba said, "There are still about 55,000 people in camps and makeshift camps. Many are still living in unsanitary conditions due to displacement caused by the earthquake. We have a very long way to go."
2010 Haiti earthquake | 2017
The mission comprises 120 military engineers, 22 medics and a 1,200 tonne-freighter filled with supplies and equipment.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 8 February 2010
Amnesty International reported that armed men were preying with impunity on girls and women in displacement camps, worsening the trauma of victims who have lost homes, livelihoods and loved ones. On the first anniversary of the earthquake, Haitian-born Michaëlle Jean, who served as the Governor General of Canada at the time of the disaster, and who became United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Special Envoy for Haiti on 8 November 2010, voiced her anger at the slow rate of aid delivery. She blamed the international community for abandoning its commitments. In a public letter co-authored with UNESCO head Irina Bokova, Jean said, "As time passes, what began as a natural disaster is becoming a disgraceful reflection on the international community." The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, led by former US President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, had been set up to facilitate the flow of funds toward reconstruction projects in April 2010, but as of January 2011, no major reconstruction had started.
2010 Haiti earthquake | 2011
Over a million people made homeless in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti moved into refugee camps that offered little food, work, or safety. The UN reported that as of October 2012 about 370,000 people were still in the camps and facing poor and insecure living conditions. The earthquake directly preceded a rapid increase in the numbers of sexual violence in Haiti. Factors contributing to vulnerability after the earthquake include homelessness and losing the protection afforded by a house; losing family members who might have provided protection; and increases in levels of violence due to the stress of living in substandard conditions; and lack of legal recourse to prosecute rapists.
Sexual violence in Haiti | 2010 earthquake and aftermath
Swiss-based Medair has started provided permanent shelters in Jacmel, that can evolved from metal-framed tents to metal clad sheds. With residents clearing their own lots, Medair would provide the shelter. Residents of the "Pinchinat" tent city in Jacmel are receiving one meal a day.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | 4 March 2010
According to the International Monetary Fund, more than half of the of debris have been removed, and 20% of it has been recycled. The 2010 cholera outbreak has continued. According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention it is considered the worst epidemic of cholera since the 1994 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (called Zaire at that time). By August 2013, it had killed over 8,231 Haitians and hospitalized hundreds of thousands more. More than 6% of Haitians have had the disease. Care of cholera patients remains inadequate with much now done in tent facilities with rows of cots for patient treatment.
2010 Haiti earthquake | 2013
As a result of the 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, NPH USA and NPH/NPFS suffered the tragic loss of staff, volunteers and family members, and extensive damage to its facilities. Despite these losses, thousands of victims received aid immediately and continue to be helped through various programs, including: St. Hélène Orphanage for Children, a permanent home to 400 children. Over 200 external students from the community attend the on-site school. Children displaced by the earthquake are being integrated into the home. St. Don Bosco, which supports roughly 250 children and youths from St. Hélène who now live with extended family or in group homes and attend secondary school, including a vocational school.
NPH USA | 2010 Haiti earthquake relief
It's just like the stories we are told of the Holocaust – thousands of bodies everywhere. You have to understand that the situation is true madness, and the more time passes, there are more and more bodies, in numbers that cannot be grasped. It is beyond comprehension."
2010 Haiti earthquake | Conditions in the aftermath
A rescue team sent by the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command established a field hospital near the United Nations building in Port-au-Prince with specialised facilities to treat children, the elderly, and women in labor. It was set up in eight hours and began operations on the evening of 16 January. A Korean International Disaster Relief Team with 40 rescuers, medical doctors, nurses and 2 k-9s was deployed to epicenters to assist mitigation efforts of Haitian Government.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Early response
Amongst the widespread devastation and damage throughout Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, vital infrastructure necessary to respond to the disaster was severely damaged or destroyed. This included all hospitals in the capital; air, sea, and land transport facilities; and communication systems. The quake affected the three Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) medical facilities around Port-au-Prince, causing one to collapse completely. A hospital in Pétion-Ville, a wealthy suburb of Port-au-Prince, also collapsed, as did the St. Michel District Hospital in the southern town of Jacmel, which was the largest referral hospital in south-east Haiti. The quake seriously damaged the control tower at Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport.
2010 Haiti earthquake | Essential services
Most homes used pit latrines and more than 90 percent of those surveyed by Kolbe used charcoal rather than gas as their cooking fuel. Kolbe and colleagues conducted a post-earthquake needs assessment after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti that determined nearly 160,000 people had died in the Port-au-Prince area, less estimated death toll released by the Haitian government. Most of those killed in the earthquake were children under 12. Some of the most commonly reported illnesses after the earthquake were diarrhea, headaches and fever, and in some cases these treatable illnesses resulted in death. Kolbe et al. estimated that 10,000 individuals were sexually assaulted in the six weeks after the earthquake.
Athena Kolbe | Research on Haiti
Ophelia Dahl, director of Partners in Health, reported, "there are hundreds of thousands of injured people. I have heard the estimate that as many as 20,000 people will die each day that would have been saved by surgery."
2010 Haiti earthquake | Rescue and relief efforts
The response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake included national governments, charitable and for-profit organizations from around the world which began coordinating humanitarian aid designed to help the Haitian people. Some countries arranged to send relief and rescue workers and humanitarian supplies directly to the earthquake damage zones, while others sought to organize national fund raising to provide monetary support for the nonprofit groups working directly in Haiti. OCHA coordinates and tracks this on a daily basis. The information is disseminated through the UN news and information portal, ReliefWeb. As of September 5, 2013, ReliefWeb have reported a total relief funding of $3.5 billion given (and a further $1 billion pledged but not given).
Humanitarian response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Introduction
In the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, UNESCO's World Heritage Program is helping Haiti assess the damage.
Massif de la Hotte | Introduction
On January 12, 2010 a devastating earthquake struck Port-au-Prince and its surrounding area and resulted in mass devastation. The Haitian art world suffered great losses in the earthquake. Museums and art galleries were extensively damaged, among them Port-au-Prince's main art museum, Centre d'Art, where many art works were destroyed. The collection at Collège Saint Pierre also was devastated, as was the collection of priceless murals in the Holy Trinity Cathedral. Some private art galleries were also severely damaged, including the Monnin Gallery in Pétion-Ville, and the Nader Art Gallery and Musée Nader in Port-au-Prince. The personal collection of Georges Nader Sr., the Nader collection was worth an estimated US$30-US$100 million.
Haitian art | 2010 Haiti earthquake
16:53 local time (21:53 UTC): the earthquake happened. People dug through rubble, rescuing survivors and recovering bodies. The bodies were laid out in the streets, some in piles. During the night, many people digging through the rubble used flashlights or torches. The Argentine Air Force Mobile Field Hospital, already deployed at Port-au-Prince, was the only medical facility still open. Argentine helicopters from the United Nations force were helping evacuate the gravely injured people to Santo Domingo.
Timeline of relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake | Tuesday 12 January 2010
Between 2010 and 2011, Haiti experienced both a large-scale earthquake and Hurricane Sandy. After these natural disasters, the frequency of rape and sexual assault incidents spiked due to the lack of security in displacement camps. Unstable conditions such as food shortages, loss of housing, and loss of family members also contributed to an increase in violence. According to Villard-Appolon, the Haitian justice system did not provide an adequate response to this crisis; no one was convicted of rape within the first two years following the January 2010 earthquake.
Malya Villard-Appolon | Haitian Earthquake and Hurricane Sandy
Gang members who escaped from Haiti's damaged prison returned to the area to continue to commit crimes. The crime rate rose and police urged citizens to take matters into their own hands. As of January 23, 2010, Cité Soleil had largely remained neglected by earthquake relief workers and was doing what it could to survive and help on its own. Samaritan's Purse worked in Cité Soleil by building the largest cholera treatment center during the outbreak.
Cité Soleil | 2010 Haiti earthquake
The Richter scale – also called the Richter magnitude scale or Richter's magnitude scale – is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles F. Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 paper, where he called it the "magnitude scale". This was later revised and renamed the local magnitude scale, denoted as ML or . Because of various shortcomings of the scale, most seismological authorities now use other scales, such as the moment magnitude scale (), to report earthquake magnitudes, but much of the news media still refers to these as "Richter" magnitudes. All magnitude scales retain the logarithmic character of the original and are scaled to have roughly comparable numeric values (typically in the middle of the scale).
Richter magnitude scale | Introduction
Additional scales were developed – a surface-wave magnitude scale () by Beno Gutenberg in 1945, a body-wave magnitude scale () by Gutenberg and Richter in 1956, and a number of variants – to overcome the deficiencies of the scale, but all are subject to saturation. A particular problem was that the scale (which in the 1970s was the preferred magnitude scale) saturates around and therefore underestimates the energy release of "great" earthquakes such as the 1960 Chilean and 1964 Alaskan earthquakes. These had magnitudes of 8.5 and 8.4 respectively but were notably more powerful than other M 8 earthquakes; their moment magnitudes were closer to 9.6 and 9.3.
Moment magnitude scale | Richter scale: the original measure of earthquake magnitude
In addition, the Ministry of National Education building was completely destroyed. The cost of destruction and damage to establishments and equipment at all levels of the education system is estimated at 478.9 million USD. Another residual effect has been the number of children disabled by resulting injuries from the earthquake. These children are now experiencing permanent disabilities, and many schools lack the resources to properly attend to them.
Education in Haiti | Impact of 2010 earthquake
The Richter magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs (adjustments are included to compensate for the variation in the distance between the various seismographs and the epicenter of the earthquake). The original formula is: where A is the maximum excursion of the Wood–Anderson seismograph, the empirical function A depends only on the epicentral distance of the station, formula_4. In practice, readings from all observing stations are averaged after adjustment with station-specific corrections to obtain the value. Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; in terms of energy, each whole number increase corresponds to an increase of about 31.6 times the amount of energy released, and each increase of 0.2 corresponds to approximately a doubling of the energy released.
Richter magnitude scale | Richter magnitudes