What happened when the earthquake struck in Haiti?

Answer 1

Fires destroyed roads and many people died. Although Haiti was not a rich country it was still hit hard by the earthquake as many were left homeless as small villages 25 miles east of the capital were hit hardest by the focus underneath their feet.

Answer 2

A 7.0 Earthquake hit Haiti January 12, 2010, 15 miles WSW of Port-Au-Prince. Scientists now say a previously unknown and undetected fault-line caused the quake.

Immediate Scene

Because Haiti's buildings were/are mostly mud with no rebar to make reinforced walls, buildings began to crumble almost immediately. Some "pancaked" while others simply fell apart. Few homes, apartment buildings, or businesses were spared. Street after street looked like a bombed town.

Untold numbers of Haitians were trapped under the debris---whether hours or days. Obviously, injuries were high. Many people had "crush injuries", in which bones in the limbs or chest are crushed. Many people who survived crush injuries had to have one or both limbs amputated. Head injuries were also common, but most were fatal; Haiti simply lacked medical resources to keep trauma victims alive.

Hospitals, Nursing Homes

All structures used for medical services were damaged. In addition, workers were afraid to have patients inside buildings because aftershocks could have caused more injuries or fatalities. So, patients who were already in the hospital before the quake were moved outside.

Further, triage --an area used to evaluate incoming emergency patients -- was set up outside. Evaluation, first aid, emergency surgeries and even amputations were done outside. Medically, the complete devastation and number of critically injured to "walking injured" overwhelmed the small medical Staffs and quickly depleted the short amounts of supplies they had on hand. Many workers began 12 to 24-hour work days, trying their best to deal with the thousands of people who needed immediate help.

Response

As in many disasters, foreign governments and their troops, medical personnel, and volunteer workers deployed to Haiti. But their arrival took time. As well, foreign military cannot just enter Another Country without permission--and according to news reports, at least for a while, there was no contact with Haitian officials. The presidential palace was severely damaged and communication infrastructure throughout the area had been severely damaged. But, leaders of different countries eventually did secure permission. The United States Navy sent at least one large hospital ship, but because of the ship's original location, it did not reach Haiti for a number of days.

Another issue during any disaster is the chaos. Haitians did not know where to go. Uninjured persons ended up camping on the lawn at the presidential palace, since it had an area clear of debris and large enough to stay away from the building. The first night, people had nothing on the ground; few had blankets; few had any food or water.

Eventually, "tent cities" cropped up in areas. "Tents" were made from blankets or anything people could find to create shelter. After the military came and after supplies began to reach Haiti, some real tents were in use.

Supplies

Numerous countries sent disaster relief supplies including shelter, cots, medical supplies, food, water, etc. But, with the disaster, the Haitian government was also critically "injured" and non-functioning. Several top officials had died in the earthquake as well. So there was little to no coordination to move relief supplies out to the people. In fact, it took time to get permission for USA cargo planes to land at the airport, and to then establish a safe landing-take off system; eventually, the US Military assumed the roles of airport coordination to land relief planes.

But then.... the supplies were unloaded and stacked at the airport. Again, there was no coordination to move the supplies to the people. To complicate matters further, most of the roads in and out of the quake area had been severely damaged and would not support the loads of heavy trucks that would move supplies. So supplies sat.

Environment

In addition to the earthquake and dozens of aftershocks (over 50 initially), the survivors and medical workers had to bear high daytime temperatures common to Haiti. To add to the woes, a major storm came through as well. People were suffering, without shelter, food, water, or basic sanitation.

With the lack of bathrooms, people started to urinate and defecate anywhere, often in an area near the side of a road (what we'd call the gutter along a street in the USA). When the major rains came shortly after the earthquake, the rain water was contaminated by the urine and feces and the rain carried these wastes into other areas.

Worse, because of the lack of drinking water, Haitians began using the gutter water after the rains as drinking water. But this water was highly contaminated. Medical personnel feared large outbreaks of Typhoid and other diseases.

Humanity at its worst

One television report during the aftermath showed elderly residents of a nursing home. The Nursing Home Administrator--the only authority present--had moved all of his residents outside to protect them from aftershocks in an unsafe, damaged building. But, no aide had gotten to this area. These elderly residents, many of whom were debilitated, frail, and incontinent, had received no food or water in over a week. The adult diapers used for patient's urinary and fecal incontinence had not been changed since before the earthquake; the Administrator explained that he had no supplies to give the resident-victims the care they needed.

All over the quake area, newborn infants to the elderly were not receiving the medical care or attention that each needed. The sheer numbers of people needing help was astronomical. The lack of food, water, and medical supplies was as devastating as the earthquake. And for every 10 people who wanted to help, there were 100 or more types of roadblocks to getting the help; in such a huge disaster, it is hard to do everything at once. And with the disorganization during a disaster, complicated by the problems of the Haitian government, Haitians who survived suffered tremendously. This kind of disaster in a Third World country, already impoverished and needy, was bigger than the word "disaster" can describe.

Orphans -- or Were They?

Haiti had a high number of orphanages before the earthquake. Poor parents who could not feed their children in some cases had signed their youngsters into orphanages. But the parents did not die in the earthquake and after the quake, many parents came looking for their children.

At the same orphanages also lived babies and children who had lost their parents to disease, especially AIDS. But some of these babies and children had other relatives still alive in Haiti. After the earthquake, some of these relatives were worried about these children.

In the meantime, television crews showed babies and children whose parents had died or their whereabouts were unknown. These scenes weighed heavily on people around the world. People's compassion made them try to bring Haitian infants and children out of the quake area; people hoped to adopt these "orphans".

Initially, some supposed orphans were brought to the USA. But, then relatives and the Haitian government protested that natives of Haiti should remain with Haitian relatives. There were major fears that anyone could take these children for reasons other than adoption (see below).

Complicating the issues about the babies and children was the fact that many USA couples or individuals had begun the official adoption process long before the earthquake occurred. To adopt, the couples had to submit a large number of documents showing that they were complying with Haitian adoption rules/laws. But because of damaged buildings, most of this paperwork was now gone. Awaiting families worried that they would never get the child they had previously wanted; they worried that the Haitian government would not allow the children to leave; and no one knew for sure whether some orphans had even survived.

The issues about Haitian "orphans" came to a head when a United States church group allegedly tried to take a bus load of children out of Haiti without permission. The church group claimed that they thought they had the correct papers and Haiti's permission. They also claimed they only wanted to move the children to a safer area. The Haitian government jailed the members of the church group. (Note: I do not know the outcome. I had heard that some church members were later released, but that the leader was kept in jail for trial. But I did not hear the conclusion to this matter.)

As a result of all of the persons, couples, groups, and organizations trying to take children out of the country, Haiti halted all removals of children. They did relent and allowed some adoptions that had been in process before the quake, but no other children could leave.

Children at High Risk During Disasters

Children face risks that are higher and more complicated than the risks to adults in disasters. First, disasters separate parents and children. In many cases, parents die. But babies and young children often lack even the ability to state their first and last names; when asked "Who are your parents?" most young children would say the equivalent to "Mommy" and "Daddy". So reuniting children and parents is very difficult, as well as matching which parents died thus leaving their children behind. Relatives are often overwhelmed by the disaster and do not immediately come looking for a brother's or sister's children.

Child trafficking after disasters is a high risk nowadays. Officials and caregivers in the quake zone may not even realize the children are being lured away or taken. Even people who state that they have the most pure intentions *could* be child predators.

Worldwide, officials who are knowledgeable in sex crimes and child slavery have been trying to educate countries about these risks to children. War and natural disasters represent the highest two threats to child safety on an international level.

What's Happening Now

Despite the billions in humanitarian aid sent since the first quake, Haitians still are suffering. Little has been cleaned up or repaired. At least 1/3rd of the 9 million Haitians still need food and water to be provided.

Due to quake injuries, millions of Haitians are now amputees. The need for medical equipment (canes, crutches, prosthesis) remains great.

People still are living in tents. People who were barely surviving before continue in that condition.

For a country the size of Maryland, Haiti still looks like a war zone, despite relief aid given and pledged for the future. Rubble still entombs many who died in buildings. During the earthquake, thousands of bodies were taken in trucks and dumped in landfills and covered in mass graves. No photos were taken; citizens from other countries remain unaccounted for and are assumed to be buried in one of the mass graves.

Sadly, TV news coverage about Haiti has ended. But the crisis continues. Just because no cameras capture the sights, smells, and human suffering does not mean these have stopped or improved. Some experts previously predicted that it could take decades for this poor country to even begin to recover.

Answer 3

Haiti is already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere so the damage of the earthquake will cost the a lot of money that they don't have. That's why they are taking in many donations from people all around the world.

Answer 4

Although Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere people did have money to rebuild, but that was all of their money, some people diditian economy was terrible as even before the earthquake their GPD was $1,300 compared to $40,000 (USA) or $36,000 (UK, converted from pounds).

Answer 5

The effects of the earthquake in haiti was that it killed lots of people and destroyed everything.

Answer 6

many people died its very sad but some people might still be alive hatians are used to hunger. Hunger is nothing

Answer 7

We had to send food, water, doctors, etc... which costs alot.

Answer 8

umm i no it was very terrible and they lost every thing....and i felt sorry fa themmm...

Answer 9

It killed over 1,000,000 people, because it was so powerful it knocked down over 100 buildings