Haiti 2010 Earthquake Essay

Haiti has dealt with ongoing environmental issues prior to the 2010 disaster. Deforestation (beginning in the 1950s) caused soil erosion and threatened clean water sources (Fritz, Hillaire, Molière, Wei, & Mohammed, 2012). Several theories suggest that extreme deforestation and soil erosion could have possibly contributed to the vertical slippage of plates due to the increased water weight on the plates (Ader, 2011) (Wdowinski, Tsukanov, Hong, & Amelung, 2010). Coincidentally, prior to the earthquake, Haiti experienced two tropical storms and a major hurricane in 2010; which may corroborate geologists’ assertion that increased soil erosion from these extreme weather events may have triggered the 2010 earthquake in Haiti (Ader, 2011) (Wdowinski, Tsukanov, Hong, & Amelung, 2010).
Relative Risk & Vulnerability
The 2010 earthquake disaster damaged over 30,000 buildings including the parliament building, Presidential Palace, hospitals, schools, numerous businesses, and other government facilities (Gardner, 2010). Haiti’s
According to the UNISDR Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Haiti’s largest Annual Average Loss (AAL) by hazard is attributed to Earthquakes, which usually account for $119 million in losses (UNISDR, 2015). Followed by wind damage ($40.6 million), storm surge ($10.5 million), and floods ($32.7 million) (UNISDR, 2015). The 2010 disaster made a dire economic situation worse (Hou & Shi, 2011). Haiti still ranks as one the most vulnerable countries at risk for exposure to numerous environmental hazards (cyclones, landslides, earthquakes, hurricane, flooding, tropical storms, and droughts). According to the UNISDR’s Haiti Disaster and Risk Profile, based on Annual Average Losses (AAL) for 2014, mortality rates for earthquakes was 96.4% and economic losses averaged 93.2%; contributing an overall 58.7% to AAL (UNISDR,