haiti earthquake case study ks2

• 0 Shopping Cart

Haiti Earthquake 2010

Haiti earthquake case study.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake .

The earthquake occurred on January 12th, 2010, at 16.53 local time (21.53 GMT).

The earthquake occurred at 18.457°N, 72.533°W. The epicentre was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The earthquake’s focus was 13km (8.1 miles) below the Earth’s surface.

Haiti is situated at the northern end of the Caribbean Plate, on a transform (slip/conservative) plate boundary with the North American Plate. The North American plate is moving west. This movement is not smooth, and there is friction between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. Pressure builds between the two plates until released as an earthquake.

A map to show the location of Haiti in relation to tectonic plates. Source BBC.

The epicentre of the earthquake was 16km southwest of Port-Au-Prince. The earthquake was caused by a slip along an existing fault (Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault).

A map to show the location of the epicentre of the earthquake

Primary Effects

As of February 12th 2010, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people died, an estimated 300,000 were injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 were made homeless. They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.

Secondary Effects

• Two million people were left without water and food.
• Regular power cuts occurred.
• Crime increased – looting became a problem and sexual violence escalated.
• People moved into temporary shelters.
• By November 2010 there were outbreaks of cholera.

Immediate Responses

• Due to the port being damaged, aid was slow to arrive.
• The USA sent rescue teams and 10,000 troops.
• Bottled water and purification tablets were provided.
• 235,000 people were moved away from Port-au-Prince to less-damaged cities.
• £20 million was donated by The UK government.

Long-term Responses

• As one of the poorest countries on Earth, Haiti relied on overseas aid.
• Although the response was slow, new homes were built to a higher standard. Over one million people still lived in temporary shelters one year after the earthquake.
• The port needed rebuilding, which required a large amount of investment.

So, why did so many people die in the Haiti earthquake? There are several reasons for this:

• The earthquake occurred at shallow depth – this means that the seismic waves must travel a smaller distance through the Earth to reach the surface to maintain more energy.
• The earthquake struck the most densely populated area of the country.
• Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
• The buildings in Port-Au-Prince and other areas of Haiti were generally in poor condition and were not designed or constructed to be earthquake-resistant.
• Three million people live in Port au Prince; most live in slum conditions after rapid urbanisation .
• Haiti only has one airport with one runway. The control tower was severely damaged in the earthquake. The port is also unusable due to damage.
• Initially, aid had been piling up at the airport due to a lack of trucks and people to distribute it. Water and food have taken days to arrive, and there is not enough to go around.
• Rescue teams from around the world took up to 48 hours to arrive in Haiti due to the problems at the airport. As a result, local people have had to use their bare hands to try and dig people out of the rubble.
• There has been a severe shortage of doctors, and many people have died of injuries like broken limbs.

 The BBC News website has a comprehensive overview of the earthquake here . In addition, the BBC has produced an excellent article titled Why so many people died in the Haiti earthquake? and provides comparative data with similar earthquakes.

Premium Resources

Please support internet geography.

If you've found the resources on this page useful please consider making a secure donation via PayPal to support the development of the site. The site is self-funded and your support is really appreciated.

Related Topics

Use the images below to explore related GeoTopics.

Previous Topic Page

Topic home, next topic page, share this:.

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

If you've found the resources on this site useful please consider making a secure donation via PayPal to support the development of the site. The site is self-funded and your support is really appreciated.

Search Internet Geography

Latest Blog Entries

Pin It on Pinterest

• Click to share
• Print Friendly

285. Haiti Earthquake 2010

Description.

In this Geography Factsheet you will find: • Haiti earthquake – The physical event. • Immediate impact. • Response. • Disaster management cycle. • The long-term recovery plan for Haiti.

Download Type

.PDF (pdf) 325.199 KB

Publication Date

Issn / isbn.

ISSN: 1351-5136

Copyright Disclaimer

The materials published on this website are protected by the Copyright Act of 1988. No part of our online resources may be reproduced or reused for any commercial purpose, or transmitted, in any other form or by any other means, without the prior permission of Curriculum Press Ltd.

Similar Resources

What our customers say, find exactly what you’re looking for..

• Popular Searches
• A Level Media Studies
• A Level Environmental Science

Work with us

Get in touch.

• © 2024 Curriculum Press
• | Terms & Conditions
• | Privacy & Cookies |
• Website MadeByShape

Tectonic Mayhem

2010 has been a very eventful year for earthquakes and volcanoes.

January (earthquake)

Haiti:  over 230,000 people were killed and over 1 million were injured when a 7- magnitude earthquake struck.

February (earthquake)

Chile:  about 452 people were killed when an 8.8 - magnitude earthquake struck.

April (earthquake)

China:  at least 400 people died after a 6.9 - magnitude earthquake struck western China's Qinghai province.

April – May (volcano)

Iceland:  all flights to and from the United Kingdom were stopped because of volcanic ash coming from a volcano in Iceland.

Did you know?

The size of an earthquake most often described on the news is measured using a scale invented by Charles Richter who was an American scientist. The Richter scale goes from the weakest (magnitude 1) to the strongest (magnitude 9).

Flash Player Required

What causes earthquakes and volcanoes.

Geographers try to understand how earthquakes and volcanoes happen by using the plate tectonics model. This model explains what is happening on the surface by looking inside the earth.

Nearly all major earthquakes and volcanoes happen near the edges of tectonic plates. Iceland is a place where two plates are moving apart. Haiti, Chile and China are places where plates have been forced into each other.

Earthquakes are waves of energy caused when the tectonic plates bump into each other. A break or fracture within a layer of rock is called a fault. The size of the area of rock that breaks and moves causes the strength of the resulting earthquake: the bigger the area of rock that breaks, the bigger the earthquake. For example, if an area of rock the size of Wales breaks and moves that would result in a magnitude 8 earthquake.

An earthquake is a shaking in the earth. A magnitude 1 earthquake is similar to the shaking produced when an average-sized man jumps from a 1 metre high table top onto the ground. Only sensitive instruments called seismometers can detect these. Each level of magnitude is 10 times bigger than the previous one.

Why did the Haiti earthquake kill more than the Chilean earthquake?

There are a number of reasons why this happens, but to understand them we need to know a bit more about how an earthquake happens.

We already know that an earthquake happens when an area of rock within the earth breaks and moves along a fault. This point is called the earthquake focus . Waves of energy spread out in a circular pattern when they reach the surface (the point on the surface directly above the focus is called the epicentre). The waves then spread out across the surface just like ripples in a pond. It is these surface waves that cause the damage.

If the focus is close to the surface then more of the energy reaches the surface. The energy level drops as the waves travel through the rocks and as a result the waves get smaller. In Haiti the focus was very shallow – less than 15km so nearly all of the energy reached the surface.

The volcano that brought UK air travel to a stop is located at a point where two plates move apart. Beneath the surface a current in the mantle is rising towards the surface. As it rises the pressure drops and some of the minerals melt to produce a mixture of liquid rock (magma) and dissolved gas.

When this reaches the surface it is like a violently shaken bottle of pop that explodes when the lid is taken off. All the overlying rock and magma is pulverised into ash and thrown high into the atmosphere.

Unusual weather conditions carried the ash over the UK causing the chaos.

Population density

The next important point is population density. In Haiti the epicentre was very close to the capital city Port au Prince; as a result the earthquake affected a city of over 2 million people.

Human geography

The final factor is wealth; Haiti is much poorer than the other countries so most buildings were not lifesafe. Lifesafe buildings have reinforced corners where columns, walls and floors meet.

Lifesafe buildings do not collapse or flatten but they require 10 per cent more materials to build and are 10-15 per cent more expensive to build. After the earthquake Haiti did not have the emergency services to cope so many more people were killed. These are an example of how human geography made a physical geography disaster even worse.

So ultimately the danger from an earthquake is not so much a case of how big it is but where it happens - the most dangerous earthquakes happen close to:

The surface

Areas of high population density (cities)

Poor countries

Do some research on either an earthquake or a volcano in 2010.

Produce a news report on what happened and why it happened. Include details of both the physical geographical reasons and human reasons for the disaster.

Think about this – imagine trying to draw a graph to show the levels of magnitude.

Level one could be shown as a bar 1mm high, level 2 would be 10mm (1cm), level 3 would be 10cm, level 4 would be 100cm (1 metre (m), level 5 would be 10m, level 6 would be 100m, level 7 1000m (1km), level 8 would be 10km & level 9 would be 100km! How many pieces of graph paper would you need to draw that graph?

Related Articles...

The Ryder Cup

Tourism in Wales

• International
• Education Jobs
• Schools directory
• Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search

Haiti 2010 earthquake case study

Subject: Geography

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

30 March 2021

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 60%

A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

Tectonic processes and hazards

Ten lessons on plate tectonics; processes, hazards and the management of these hazards. The bundle covers everything in this unit of study. All the resources you need to deliver this unit are included. The bundle include case studies on earthquakes and volcanoes as well. The lessons in the bundle are all differentiated and include challenge task. As a matter of fact these lessons can be used with GCSE groups with minor tweaking.

Volcanoes and earthquakes

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

This resource hasn't been reviewed yet

To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

Resources you can trust

Cause, effect and response of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

All reviews

Have you used this resource?

Alex Phillips Moseley

Resources you might like