Haiti Earthquake 2010

1. Why Did so many People Die in the Haiti
Earthquake of 12
th
January 2010?

4. Location
The earthquake was
located 113 Miles from the
plate boundary between
the Caribbean Plate and
the North American Plate
Transform/ conservative
plate boundary with one
plate sliding past another
There have been no
large earthquakes in
Haiti for 200 years
Earthquake was 7.3 on
Richter scale,15km from the
Capital Port au Prince and
only 6 miles deep

5. Hurricanes
In 2008 a thousand
people were killed
and up to a million
were made homeless
after four hurricanes
struck around the
important town of
Gonaives in as many
weeks
Haiti has found it
difficult to recover
from the cost of the
damage caused by
the hurricanes in 2004
and 2008
Thousands of farms
were destroyed and
there was a national
food shortage
The hurricanes of
2008 have forced
hundreds of
thousands more
people to flood into
Port au Prince

6. Housing
3 Million people live in
Port au Prince with
the majority living in
slum conditions after
rapid urbanisation.
300,000 people
live in the Cité
Soleil slum
where there are
no paved roads
or sewers and
little to no water
or electricity
supply.
Most houses are self
built; made out of breeze
blocks and scrap, with no
foundations or rules
restricting height. Many
houses are built on steep
hillsides.
Large families (as many as
15) live in cramped
conditions in the poorer
houses

7. Poverty
66% of the population
of Haiti earn less than
£1 a day with 56% of
the population classed
as “extremely poor”
Haiti is the poorest
country in the Western
Hemisphere
Many of the poorest
people eat mud cakes
to stop them from
feeling hungry
Many of the population
of Port au Prince are
uneducated and work in
informal jobs around
the city.

8. Political Troubles
President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide was overthrown
during rioting in 2004. The
country has a new
president René Préval but
the government is very
unstable. UN Troops
patrol the streets.
People in Haiti blame the
government for riots
caused by the price of
rice, beans and fruit rising
by 50% from 2007-2008
Very little government
money has been spent on
improving the quality of
buildings, hospitals and
roads.
The government is now
officially the most corrupt
on earth!

9. Put the five factors in the order that you
think were most to blame for the high
number of deaths
•Political troubles
•Housing
•Hurricanes
•Location
•Poverty
Least to blame
Most to blame

10. Why Did so many People Die in the Haiti
Earthquake of 12
th
January 2010?