Tectonic Plates - Case Studies
Montserrat 1995-97 LEDC Case Study - VOLCANIC ERUPTION Location: • Montserrat is a Caribbean island, ... • Montserrat is classed as a ... • It was nicknamed the ... Development Indicators: • Literacy: • Unemployment: • Life Expectancy: • IMR: • GDP: • Population:
And is part of the group of islands known as the Leeward Islands, which in turn are all part of the chain of islands known as the Lesser Antilles. These are all located within the British West Indies. British Overseas territory and measures approximately 16 km long and 11 km wide, comprised of 104 square kilometres. "Emerald Isle of The Caribbean" as it's green coastline closely matches that of Northern Island in the UK. It also has two islets, known as Kingdom of Redonda and Virgin 97% of population is literate 6% is unemployed 73.4 years 14.69 % per 1000 live births 3,400 USD 4,900 in 2012
Facts of the volcano/Features/Attributes: • Type: • Shape: • Lava/Rock type:
Composite volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, pumice and ash (stratovolcano). Straight, conical sides. Overall a steep profile. Andesitic. • Mount Pinatubo erupted in what has been deemed the second-largest eruption of the 20th-century and what was possibly the largest eruption to ever affect such a highly densely-populated area. • Eruption produced high-speed avalanches of hot ash and gas (pyroclastic flows) and giant mudflows (lahars).
Why Is It Susceptible To Earthquakes?: Facts of the 2010 Earthquakes: • Occurred at ... • Magnitude of ... • By 24th January, ... • The epicentre of the earthquake was ... • The focus point was...
Haiti's capital, Port Au Prince, lies on the plate boundary between the Caribbean and North American plate. The margin is largely known as a Conservative plate boundary where each is moving in a similar direction, if slightly towards each other, in a sandwiching movement. Thus, this results in a stick-slip movement which was also the cause of the 2010 earthquake. 16:53 local time on Tuesday 12th January 2010. 7 on the Richter scale. 52 aftershocks had been measured, all at 4.5 or above. Approximately 10 miles South-west of Port Au Prince. Relatively shallow, around 10-15 kilometres below the surface of the land on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault which had been stuck for approximately 250 years. As pressure had built, the fault has finally slipped out of place, around 1.8 metres.
Christchurch 2011 MEDC Case Study - EARTHQUAKE Location: • Christchurch is the ... • A river named ... • For the whole of New Zealand, ... Development Indicators (New Zealand): Life Expectancy: Money Per Day: Education: IMR: Median Age: Population:
Largest city on the southern island of New Zealand. It is a vastly urban area that lies on the Southern Island's Eastern coast, and at last count, was home to 381,800 residents. It is New Zealand's third most populous area, after Auckland and Wellington. Avon flows through the city centre, whose banks now form park of the rim of it's inner-city urban park. Around 234.65 square miles are urban area. The highest recorded land elevation for New Zealand is currently 920 metres absl. Their usual timezone is NZST (UTC + 12) and in summer they switch to NZDT (UTC + 13). 81.16 years (2012) 123.30$ (Median) (June 2014) 81.2% children left school with higher qualifications (2014) 4.5/1000 38.1 years F, 35.6 years M 4.471 million (2013)
Lyttleton, Sumner and Redcliff
Lyttleton: Buildings here sustained widespread damage. A fire officer has reported that 60% of the houses had been badly damaged with two deaths as individuals who had been walking along tracks were hit by rockfall. The town's historic station, TimeBall Station, had been extensively damaged. Later on, after aftershocks added to the issue of the station's now-weak structure, it finally collapsed 3rd June 2011, from a magnitude 6.4 aftershock. Sumner: Landslides occurred in summer in this town, crushing numerous buildings. 3 deaths had been reported in this region. Redcliff: The cliff located behind Redcliffs school collapsed onto houses located beneath it. Large boulders were found in the days afterward located in the middle of lawns and gardens.
Mount Pinatubo, Philippines 1991 LEDC Case Study - VOLCANIC ERUPTION Location: Development Indicators: Literacy: Unemployment: Life Expectancy: IMR: GDP: Population: Why is There a Volcano Here?:
Mount Pinatubo is located in the Cabusilan Mountains on an island named Luzon, in the Philippines. Mount Pinatubo's highest elevation point measured was at 1,486 metres absl. Before the eruption in 1991, it was at 1,745 metres absl. 94.7% of population is literate, age 15+ 7.1% is unemployed 68.2 years 25.5 per 1000 live births 2,765.08 USD in 2013, per capita (head) 100.1 million Pinatubo is on an island in the Philippines. It lies on the plate margin of the Philippine and Eurasian plates, where the oceanic Philippine plate is being pushed underneath the continental Eurasian.
Why Is It Susceptible To Earthquakes?: Facts of The 2015 Earthquakes: • Occurred at ... • The earthquake measured as a ... • Total damage was ... • The earthquake's Epicentre was found to be ... • Focus struck at roughly ...
Nepal borders India to the south. It lies on the plate boundary where the Indian Tectonic Crustal Plate is converging with the Eurasian Crustal Plate. This is occurring at around 45 mm per year, driving the creation of the Himalayan mountains to the North East. 11:26AM local time, Saturday 25th of April. 7.8 on the Richter scale, and flattened large parts of the capital, Kathmandu. Estimated to be at 10 Billion USD. 34 kilometres southeast of Lamjung, Nepal. 15 kilometres below the surface, making the earthquake very shallow.
Were the Solutions Successful?:
Responses had been criticized as far too slow. The hardest hit area, Gorkha-Lamjung, the epicentre location, was visited only by helicopter the day after the earthquake. Hundreds were feared dead in this region.
Eyjafjallajökull 2010 MEDC Case Study - VOLCANIC ERUPTION Location: • Eyjafjallajökull is one of the ... • Most recently the volcano erupted ... • The ice cap covers an area of ... • In this case, the volcano appears to be a ... Development Indicators: • Literacy: • Unemployment: • Life Expectancy: • IMR: • GDP: • Population:
Smallest ice caps in Iceland. It smothers the caldera of a volcano which has a summit elevation of 1,651 metres high. In 2010. Roughly 100 square kilometres (39 square miles) and feeds many outlet glaciers. Stratovolcano, similar to that of Montserrat, and at its highest point has a crater of 3-4 kilometres (2-2.5 miles). 99% of population is literate, 2015 4.3% is unemployed 87 years F, 81 years M 1.9 per 1000 live births 47,461 USD in 2013 323,002 in 2013
Why is it susceptible to earthquakes?: Facts of the February 22nd 2011 Earthquake: • Occurred at ... • Registered as a ... • The epicentre struck ... • The infrastructure of ... • Initial quake only lasted for ...
The whole island is located on a collision boundary between the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates (Continental Vs. Continental between North and South of the island), which is actually a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire where many volcanoes and earthquakes occur. Roughly 14,000 earthquakes can be felt on the island in a year, where 150-200 are on average the number great enough to be noticed by residents. It was thought that the earthquake was due to the rupturing of an 8km x 8km fault along the boundary. 12:51pm local time. (22nd february 2011) 6.3 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale. 2 kilometres west of the port town Lyttelton, and 10 kilometres south-east of Christchurch, which at the time was New Zealand's second-most populous city. Christchurch had already been badly affected by a previous 7.3 magnitude earthquake which struck Canterbury on the 4th September 2010 and its aftershocks. Approx. 10 seconds, however, the shallowness of the focus was enough to cause severe damage on the surface.
Nepal 2015 LEDC Case Study - EARTHQUAKE Location: • Officially known as ... • Nepal is approximately ... Development Indicators: • Life Expectancy: • Education: • IMR: • Median Age: • Population:
the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, it is located in South Asia, bordering the North outline of India. 147,181 kilometres squared in size and is the world's 41st most populous country. 69.6 years 12.4 years of expected schooling 32.2 / 1000 live births 22.5 years F, 20.7 years M 27.8 million (World Bank 2013)
Long-Term Responses:
• An exclusion zone was set up around the volcanic region. • New infrastructure was implemented in the form of roads and the creation of a new airport for Montserrat, called Gerald's Airport (now John A. Osbourne's Airport). • A volcanic observatory was built to watch over the volcano and monitor it. • All people of Montserrat were granted full residency in the UK, so that they could move if they chose to do so. British Citizenship was granted in 2002. There were a number of residents who did migrate to the UK, but many have since moved back to the island.
Haiti 2010 LEDC Case Study - EARTHQUAKE Location: • Officially known as ... • Haiti is located ... • Haiti is currently the ... Development Indicators: • Life Expectancy: • Money Per Day: • Education: • IMR: • Median Age: • Population:
the Republic of Haiti, it is a sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere (North America), and classed as an LEDC. on the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic borders Haiti on the right side of the island and is 27,750 kilometres squared in size and has an estimated population of 10.6million. poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with a GDP of 819.90 USD in 2013. 62.7 years (2012) 59% of pop. live on 2$/day or less (World Bank 2012) 50% of children do not attend school (World Bank 2013) 55/1000 live births (UNICEF 2015) 22.2 years 10,461,000 (UNICEF 2015)
Solutions / Response : Short-Term:
• .A 323 strong contingent of New Zealand police officers arrived shortly after the quake, sworn to service in Christchurch, and began helping and managing the population, exerting authority and keeping calm. This brought the total number of officers in the city to 1200. • New Zealand Fire Service organised and conducted a mass search of the entire inner city area where damage inside and out of buildings had been identified to try and reach anyone trapped. They had help from Urban Search & Rescue teams from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Singapore and others. All also reported to reports of fires, serious structural damage to properties and landslides in the general area. • Another 72 personnel of an Urban Search & Rescue team from Australia were sent in on on two RAAF C-130 Hercules aircraft (NSW Tas Force 1), followed by others, to drop26-tonnes of pre packed aid supplies, paramedics, doctors, engineers and firefighters • Within 5 days, 82% of households had power back, and within two weeks the figure had risen to 95%. • Mains water was reestablished to 70% of households within one week. Thousands of portaloos were brought and placed in the city and community laundries were set up in many of the badly affected suburbs. • The 'Rangiora Earthquake Express' provided 250 tonnes of water, medical supplies and food from nearby Rangiora by helicopter and truck.
Long-Term:
• 24th February, a 75-bed hospital was created in the badly affected eastern suburbs of Christchurch. • Humanitarian aid came from many organisations, including the New Zealand Red Cross and the Salvation Army. • The Australian Government pledged $5 million Australian Dollars to the Red Cross Appeal for the Christchurch earthquake. • On March 1st, it was announced that the New South Wales government was also pledging $1 million Australian Dollars to the cause. • China also gave $500,000 USD to the appeal.
Responses: Short-Term Responses:
• Abandonment of the capital city to save as many lives as possible. However, this was carried out over a relatively short period of time and so many belongings were left behind. • Ash clouds stopped any willing rescuers from flying in and searching for the 19 people who stayed behind after the evacuation. • British government gave the island money for compensation and redevelopment after the disaster.
Long-Term Impacts:
• By February 2015, there had been a total of 1250 demolitions throughout the city centre, all related to the removal of unsafe buildings remaining after the quake struck in 2011. • Building inspectors gave out yellow or red stickers to 45% of properties to restrict access due to safety problems. Many heritage buildings had been crushed and given red stickers also. The Cathedral's spire in the inner-city of Christchurch had been obliterated, and the remainder of the tower had to be sadly demolished in March 2012. • Social = In the suburbs, the Prime Minister declared that over 10,000 houses would need to be demolished. (March 7th) • Final aftershock recorded on April 16th, was a magnitude 5.3 which served only to cause further damage and cut out major power lines throughout Christchurch.
Facts of the volcano/Features/Attributes: • Type: • Shape: • Lava/Rock type: Why is there a Volcano here?:
• Composite volcano, stratovolcano. • Iceland in general suffers from 1 eruption every 5 years on average. • Erupted in May of 2010. Second phase of the eruption occurred around April 10th which created the large ash cloud that brought so many secondary impacts. Stratovolcano, Composite (younger volcano) and an older, shield volcano which produced more of the rock - basaltic mainly. Coned. Andesitic. Due to Iceland lying on the Mid-Atlantic ridge, it was formed as an underwater volcano on the constructive plate boundary. It will have grown over time to become its current height absl.
More Long-Term Impacts...
• Economic = From 23 major charities a total of $1.3 billion was gathered, but only 2% had actually been released. • Social = Even one full year after the earthquake, there were still 1 million people who remained displaced. • Social = Survivors crammed into rescue camps, and faced further risks such as the quick spread of disease. • Social/Environmental = Two months after the earthquake, the rainy season began. People were worried that the rescue camps would turn into pure mud, leading up to other secondary hazards like mudslides.
Long-Term Impacts:
• Economic = impacted the whole island and their GDP for many years. Tourism dropped to almost non-existent over this period and so unemployment rose dramatically, even after the residents were safe to go back to the island after Chances Peak's eruption period had been declared over.
Impacts: Short-Term Impacts:
• Economic/Social/Economic = Biggest no-fly zone ever implemented in our history. It covered the majority of the continent of Europe as well as a handful of other countries. • Volcanic Ash Advisory used a calculator to work out when the ash cloud would cover the continent of Europe and send information to NTS who put out the alert to close the airports. • Economic/Social/Economic = Airports across Britain were closed as a result. Around 10 million passengers were stranded across the globe who needed to come home after holidays abroad, similar with a large percentage of passengers stuck in Britain who needed to leave. It also resulted in a humongous loss of money for airlines, airports, businesses based in and around airports such as coffee lounges, pubs and hotels, as well as holiday companies abroad, the passengers themselves and potential tourists who may have cancelled holidays or who would have been put off as they couldn't. • Environmental = The ash cloud (including/also known as Tephra) was an estimated 250 million cubic metres in size. This meant that the height it was ejected to rated the volcano as a 4 of the volcanic explosivity index.
Impacts: Short-Term Impacts:
• Environmental = Liquefaction badly affected Christchurch's eastern suburbs, causing 400,000 tonnes of silt to rise to the surface and add to the mayhem. • Social = 185 deaths were recorded, of people who originated from over 20 different countries. Over half of these deaths occurred because of the collapse of the six-storey Canterbury TV building which collapsed during the quake and caught fire shortly afterwards. • Economic/Social = State of local emergency was declared for Christchurch which was suspended/overridden when the government declared it a state of national emergency. This stayed in force until April 30th 2011. • Social = 115 people died due to the collapse of the Canterbury TV building. 8 people died when masonry from another building collapsed on top of the number 302 Red Bus. • Social = Christchurch hospital alone treated 220 people for major trauma injuries. • Economic/Environmental/Social = major infrastructure was damaged like roads and bridges into and out of Christchurch. Emergency services were slowed and hospitals even suffered minor damage to buildings and equipment as it was thrown about theatre rooms and A&E wards.
Long-Term Impacts:
• Environmental/Social/Economic = Haiti's port was destroyed, stopping trade being received and sent out, and a loss of jobs for workers there. Although, jobs will have been created again (long-term!) for construction to rebuild the port and city. • Economic/Social = An estimated 1 in 5 jobs were lost due to the earthquake. This will have had a severe negative multiplier effect on the rest of the country and anyone who trade with Haiti, bearing in mind that their clothing industry accounts for ⅔'s of all the country's exports. A loss of professionals is also another impact for the long-term. • Social/Economic = An estimated 3 million people were directly affected by the earthquake. • Economic/Environmental = Even 6 months after the earthquake hit, an estimated 98% of the rubble over the whole country still remained uncleared. This will not have had any benefits for the little tourism Haiti receives as it does not bode well in attracting visitors into see culture and tradition as it lies on the ground along with the debris. However, raising awareness for catastrophes such as Haiti does draw in streams of aid workers who bring a little business and help along with them. • Social = The number of civilians in relief camps since the earthquake rose to 1.6 million. This can bring with it numerous health issues as having such a high density populated area means the spread of diseases such as cholera, from drinking contaminated water, occurs rapidly as it can spread quickly and easily from one to another. Bearing in mind how low the levels of existential security were throughout Haiti before the earthquake, means that curing these outbreaks will be even harder.
Long-Term Responses:
• The in the long-term was placed on gaining the funding and researching into the implementation of prediction systems and monitoring equipment, much like in Iceland for Eyjaf. • The evacuation fell under the FEMA' Recovery Continuum at phase 2, called a "short term recovery". Also included in this was the speedy recovery of businesses as the economy picked up swiftly. • Many civil engineers set straight to work in isolating lahar deposits so that agricultural fields were affected as little as possible, as farming sugar cane and rice is one of the most prominent businesses in the area due to such fertile soils beneath the volcano.
Impacts: Short-Term Impacts:
• Environmental/Social/Economic = Kathmandu, the capital, was severely damaged from the initial earthquake because it sits on the Kathmandu Basin, which contains up to 600m of sedimentary material that only exaggerates the earthquakes p, s and love waves as they reach the surface. • Social = The death toll reached 8,632 people and 19,009 were injured and sent to hospitals to receive treatment. • Social = With hundreds of villages having been completely flattened, hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless and left to sleep outside at night when the temperatures in Nepal dip horrendously. • Economic/Social = Most harvests from across the entire country were utterly obliterated. • Economic = Tourism in Nepal is very important with the mountain range in particular, but since the quake there has been a definite drop in the industry, meaning Nepal has lost vital income bearing in mind it is still classed an LEDC. • Environmental/Social = the earthquake triggered a humongous avalanche on Mount Everest, which went on to kill 17 individuals. However, in the following days estimates put the figure up to 1000 to include any other climbers and trekkers who were at the base camp. • Environmental/Social = Looking at the steep valley in particular, landslides were triggered by the quake and covered many more houses and the entire village of Ghodatabela killing over 250 people.
Long-Term Impacts:
• Global cooling of 0.5-1 Celsius due to the ash cloud in the atmosphere. • Land not arable for years due to smothering of ash, and 1991 harvest destroyed.
Solutions: Short-Term Solutions:
• Kathmandu had tent communities spring up all over, providing a place to sleep for those who had been made homeless. • Indian government was the first to respond to the crisis, by launching a fully-fledged rescue and relief operation code named Maitri. • Within 15 minutes of the quake occurring, Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded by directing an immediate dispatch of relief and rescue teams, including medical teams to Nepal. • Algeria dispatched over 70 workers, medicines and other supplies to Nepal to help with rescue efforts. • Canada's most popular state, Ontario, pledged $1 million CAD to the Canadian Red cross which was focusing on the disaster at the time. • New Zealand sent over $1 million NZD in humanitarian aid, and mobilised 45 urban search and rescue technicians. • UK Government provided over 30 tonnes of humanitarian aid and 8 tonnes of equipment. This formed part of a £33 million aid package (the largest bilateral aid contribution to Nepal). • Inflatable hospitals were used to help anyone injured throughout Nepal.
Short-Term Impacts:
• Largest US military base in the Philippines, Clark Air Base, had to be evacuated as was within 25 kilometres of Mt. Pinatubo. Valuables and equipment were taken away after the initial warnings produced by professionals and only fully evacuated after a Level 4 was announced. • Estimated 15,000 people who lived on the volcano's flanks were evacuated right away. • Despite air travel given warnings of the eruption also, even jets that weren't in the proximity of Pinatubo sustained a cumulative 100$ mil in damage. • Manila airport had to be closed as planes could not fly with the ash cloud. • 847 people died, 300 from collapsing roofs of buildings and 100 from the lahars (mud flows). • $700 million total in damages. • 1.2 million people lost their homes. • Lahars (fast flowing mudflows) caused severe river bank erosion.
Solutions: Short-Term Solutions:
• Locals in all areas skipped sleep for several days, making it their own goal to save as many trapped people in their areas as possible as aid was slowed down massively by blocked transport routes. • Charities like Oxfam began appeals as quickly as possible, passing out disaster-specific charity collection boxes to stores all across the UK, and using all money collected to pay for food, warm blankets and water to distribute across the island; the EU donated $330 million to the cause. • Many of the early rescue works, other than carried out by locals to help one another, were by teams from the Dominican Republic, the first country to respond. • Within 24 hours, a rescue team from Iceland had landed on the island. • Shortly after, a 50-strong team from China arrived. • Both Israel and Qatar sent people to create make-shift hospitals to help any injured.
Long-Term Responses:
• Long-term, funding focused on researching heavily into effects of ash in the atmosphere as it so heavily affected their international trade using jet vehicles in the skies, and improving forecast predictions to be able to give wholly accurate results when debating whether to close airports all across Europe as had to be done in the case of the 2010 eruption.
Long-Term Solutions:
• May 1st, International aid agencies like Médicins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) were able to start medically evacuating the critically wounded by helicopter from outlying areas.
Management/Responses: Short-Term Responses:
• Prediction: A strategy used by authorities was to transport in members of the US Geological Survey to help aid professionals in deciding whether to give alert warnings and what warnings to give and when. Successfully, 75,000 people were evacuated away safely before the eruption occurred, from the surrounding land at a radius of 30 kilometres. • Preparation: Philippine authorities had schemes in place that had cause for ready-made refugee camps created from tents for any and all refugees that fled from the disaster zone as soon as word was received that the eruption had started. However, they didn't provide nearly enough water or food supplies which could be improved in future and had to rely on Red Cross charity help to get by. • A hazard map of the possible post-eruption lahars was drawn up and followed with further evacuations for any settlements that would have been targeted and still remained populated at the time. • Overall, 200,000 were evacuated from their homes and it was estimated this move saved a predicted 5,000 loss of lives along with 250$ mil in damage after possessions were taken out of area.
Long-Term Impacts:
• Three royal plazas - the Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur - are almost completely destroyed. These squares date back to the 5th century, and were home to Nepal's royal families until the 1800s. UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, estimates that 80 percent of the temples are significantly damaged. • Economist expect this damage to severely hit tourism, which makes up 8.2 percent of Nepal's GDP, and 7 percent of total employment.
Responses/Management : Short-Term Responses:
• Predictions: Mr Sigmundsson of the Nordic Volcanological Centre at the Uni of Iceland, led an international team in tracking years of deformations of Eyjaf. by using a combination of GPS, seismic monitoring and satellite radar. Sigmundsson found that 11 weeks before the eruption, Eyjaf. showed signs of a nearing eruption by swelling caused by magma leakage just under the surface on one of its flanks, by 15cm. This aided efforts of warning those living nearby to evacuate sooner to the predicted time of the eruption. • In addition, with past knowledge that another volcano named Katla had always proceeded eruptions of Eyjaf. with an eruption of its own, has allowed for plenty of forewarning for any living close to Katla and to keep a particular eye on this volcano too. • Preparation: Icelandic governments responded quickly in issuing evacuation notices following warnings from predictions. This saved lives. The governments also thought about longer-term impacts however, and in order for others to help them they helped themselves by protecting infrastructure that would allow aid efforts to reach affected areas much quicker - they breached banks on purpose to allow the escaped meltwater (secondary impact caused by the eruption) to escape harmlessly to sea. This saved expensive bridges and the like from being washed away.
Impacts: Short-Term Impacts
• Social = 11,000 people were evacuated from the area to safety. • Social = 19 people were killed in the eruptions as a small group chose to stay and watch their crops after evacuation processes had been carried out. • Environmental/Economic/Social = the capital, Plymouth, was covered in layers of ash and dust. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, either by the initial eruptions and lava flows, pyroclastic flows or lahars, and remains were crushed under the weight of ash and dust which settled on the ground after. • Environmental/Economic = roads were obliterated and swallowed by the eruption, ruining networks and stopping all forms of transport. • Social = Sentimental impact of losing so many belongings and your own home
More Short-Term Impacts...
• Social = Due to the quake hitting at lunchtime, some bystanders walking along footpaths were trapped by falling rubble. • Environmental = Road surfaces that weren't torn up by the quake, most were then covered by silt and water that had been spewed to the surface by liquefaction, slowing aid efforts even further. • Social/Economic = Christchurch's hospital had to be partly evacuated in the end due to structural damage and concern for hospital patients and staff. • Environmental = another aftershock only 2 hours after the main quake, was the largest aftershock recorded, reaching a magnitude of 5.9. • Social/Economic = immediately after the quake, 80% of Christchurch was without power. Wastewater services were disrupted and so authorities urged residents to save any rain water over the coming weeks. • Social = a 'red' inner city centre zone was declared within the CBD of christchurch where many of the population were working during the day.
More Short-Term Impacts...
• Social = More than 1 million people were made homeless. • Environment/Social = Shanty towns in the capital were easily destroyed, and the Presidential Palace was another landmark to have crumbled. Since only a few buildings in haiti had been created with earthquake-surviving structures in mind, the lack of safety measures taken with the majority of buildings contributed heavily to their fall. • Environmental = Rubble having collapsed and broken off from buildings as they fell, blocked roads and bridges and stopped traffic and aid getting to the most central and remote places on the island. Rail links were gone. • Social/Economic = Looting quickly became a priority for crooks, along with sporadic violence, after rescues tailed off and food, medicine and water became the highest priorities. • Social = Morgues in Port Au Prince in particular quickly became full as deliveries of bodies became a non-stop occurrence. The huge number of bodies meant that many began stacking up on streets outside, and the spread of Cholera and other diseases soon followed.
Impacts: Short-Term Impacts: The primary impact of the earthquake, the violently shaking ground, caused numerous secondary hazards mentioned below:
• Social = The estimated death toll ranged from 100,000 to 160,000, inflated by the Haitian government. Loved ones were lost, affecting thousands of families, and many children were orphaned who had suffered the loss of one or both parents. This may have been lower than if the earthquake had occurred in the evening, or in fact higher than if it had occurred in the evening, as it would be dependent on where people were and if the structures they were in had been created under safety regulations for earthquakes. • Environmental/Social/Economic = Haitian government estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 commercial buildings had been obliterated or severely damaged. Businesses collapsed along with their stores and stock. This could also be down to other human issues such as corruption, if building regulations hadn't been followed which, in an LEDC country, may be more likely, also due to a lack of money. • Economic = The county's main airport was closed down immediately due to horrific control-tower damage that could not be patched-up quickly enough. • Social = Telephone towers were knocked down, meaning no mobile phone signal to call for help or contact loved ones. • Social = The island's main prison was obliterated, and approximately 4,000 inmates escaped. This could lead to longer-term impacts where criminals free in the area carry out crimes and in the worst case, kill others, as they are no longer restrained 'behind bars'. • Social = Electricity supplies were disrupted, meaning no mains electricity or water. This could lead to violence and looting as it becomes a matter of 'survival of the fittest' amongst those still alive, in particular in more rural areas that were completely cut off, and inner-city areas where fallen buildings have isolated people in groups with little aid.
Long-Term Impacts:
• Social/Economic/Environmental = Fresh produce was running out and organ donors for procedures were not where they were needed to be. Lives may have been lost if donors did not get to their destinations on time if ill patients passed away in the meantime. • Environmental = From April 10th-14th, a large ash cloud hung over the continent of Europe due to wind conditions pushing it over these countries, along with the type of ash being so FINE and SHARP that airports were forced to close as jet engines could not function by sucking in the ash, and it floating at the height that planes fly around 20,000 feet high and being so light it travelled so far and stayed in the air for so long. (Ash through a jet turbine would become hot and the silica that forms the ash would melt and turn back to a glass-like substance, sticking to turbines and blocking hot air flow through them, causing them to look as though they are catching fire as the substance begins to burn and smoke and other are sent back out through the turbine.)
Long-Term Solutions:
• The World Bank waived the country's debts for 5 years to allow them time to recover and rebuild. • Senegalese offered land to any Haitians who wished to take it.
Facts of the volcano/Features/Attributes: • Type: • Shape: • Lava/Rock type: Why is there a Volcano here?:
• Volcano (commonly referred to as 'Chances Peak') had been dormant for 300 years prior to 1995. • Most violent and intense eruptions occurred in 1997. • Small earthquakes and eruptions of ash were the early warning signs that Chances Peak was going to erupt. Composite with lava domes (stratovolcano). Straight, conical sides. Overall a steep profile. Andesitic and basaltic rock. • The Soufriere Hills volcano is situated above a destructive plate margin, or subduction zone which forms the Peurto Rico Trench. Oceanic crust from the North American plate is sinking under the Caribbean plate, forming the Antilles volcanic island arc.
