The 2010 Haiti earthquake that killed over 200,000 people was caused by movement along the boundary between the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates. Haiti sits along a conservative plate boundary where the plates move about 20 mm per year, building pressure until an earthquake occurs. A 7 magnitude earthquake struck just 15 km from the capital Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. The shallow depth of 13 km exacerbated the damage. Over 1.5 million people were left homeless as much of Port-au-Prince was destroyed, including important buildings and infrastructure. The poor conditions in Haiti made providing relief extremely difficult in the aftermath.

1. Haiti Earthquake - January 2010Why did so many people die?http://www.dec.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=412

2. TASK 1. Shade in and name Haiti & The Dominican Republic 2. Highlight the conservative plate boundary 3. Add a title

3. Haiti Earthquake January 2010 Haiti – background Haiti is in the Caribbean and is the western third of the island of Hispaniola – joined by the Dominican Republic Has a population of 9 million peoplePort-au-Prince is the capital with a population of 3.5 million It is the poorest country in the western world – more than half the population live on less than $1 a day

4. Why did it happen?Causes:Haiti is situated along the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates These two plates move at about 20 mm a year, with the Caribbean plate moving eastward while the North American plate moving west. It is a conservative plate boundary. 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 it is released as an earthquake.

5. What happened – the facts On Tuesday, Jan 12th 2010 at 4:53p.m local time a magnitude 7 earthquake hit Haiti. The epicentre was 25km SW of Port au Prince, Haiti’s capital. The focus was very shallow only 13 km deep.By 24 January there had been at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater on the Richter scale

6. THE FACTS300,000 had been injured1.5 million made homeless200,000 homes destroyed220,000 people died500 schools destroyed

7. Important buildings were damaged or destroyed including the :- National Assembly building Port au Prince cathedral Main jail.The UN headquaters President’s Palace Important people also died :-Archbishop of Port au Prince

8. Politicians - The chief commissioner of the UN

9. Situation made worse by the fact that :-- Three million people live in slum conditions in Port au Prince - Haiti had a series of damaging storms the previous year- The unstable and corrupt government Poor infra structure and urban planning non existent – hampering rescue attempts- Haiti airport only has one runway, the control tower was badly damaged- The port was also damaged so relief workers and supplies held up – took 48hrs initially Main roads out of Port au Prince were still blocked 10 days after the earthquake - Public telephone, mobiles and internets down