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Haiti earthquake disaster
Haiti earthquake disaster
Haiti earthquake disaster
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Hurricane Matthew assaulted Haiti with deadly fury, destroying homes, crops, livestock, and transportation. The top United Nations official in Haiti described this disaster as the “largest humanitarian event” in the country since the devastating earthquake six years ago. According to The National Hurricane Center in Miami, ”... the storm was moving north at 10 miles an hour toward eastern Cuba and the Bahamas. The center projected 15 to 25 inches of rain for southern Haiti and in the southwestern part of Dominican Republic, and it warned as much as 40 inches of rain may fall in some areas.” This category four hurricane made the sea levels rise drasticly altering Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.
Hurricanes are formed over tropical waters. These intense storms consist of winds over 74 miles per hour (Ahrens & Sampson, 2011). The storms addressed here are Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. This paper will explore the contrasts and comparisons between these two horrific storms.
Nearly 45 years ago one of the most powerful and damaging weather phenomenon’s ever to be recorded slammed into the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, a storm that effected people far and wide. Camille formed on August 14th just west of the Cayman Islands and rapidly intensified overnight becoming a category 3 hurricane approaching the island of Cuba. The storm trekked north-northwestward across the Gulf and became a stage 5 hurricane and maintained its strength before making landfall on the Mississippi Coast on the eve of August 17th. The devastating aftermath in the weeks to follow induced by the winds, surges, and rainfall took the lives of 256 people, and caused an estimated damage of 1.421 billion dollars.
On August 24th, 1992 in the state of Florida, complete destruction was the end result of Hurricane Andrew. A Hurricane that began in the Atlantic ocean at 20mph. That is almost twice the strength that normal hurricanes begin at. The peak strength of Hurricane Andrew was so strong that devices were not able to measure the winds. An approximation of the force of the winds was said to be up to 200mph. Andrew destroyed about 28,000 homes, damaged 100,000 homes and left 250,000 people homeless along with 30 billion dollars in damage and almost 30 deaths. Hurricane Andrew did not end its devastation in Florida, soon it went to Louisiana causing more damage. (Fig.1)
The Haitian government’s lack of preparedness for earthquakes despite the fact that earthquakes are common to the region is indicative of the governments inability and lack of resources to properly plan and protect it’s population against natural disasters. This lack of preparedness is not an isolated incident. Prior to the disaster, the World Bank and others were working with the Haitian government to incorporate disaster risk management into Haiti’s development strategy and to develop its capacity for disaster response. This capacity building was in its early stages of development when the earthquake hit, on January 12, 2010, and was mainly focused on hurricanes, which are the most common cause of natural disaster on the island (Margesson, 2010, p. 4).
According to Climate Risk Index, Haiti is the 3th country most affect by severe weather events. More than 50% of Haitians economy depend on agricutural, but in recently year people face with losting
Natural disaster can be traumatic events that have a huge impact on the mental health of communities often resulting in an increase in mental health needs that don’t get met. In 2005, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. History, Hurricane Katrina, hit the states of Louisiana and Mississippi affecting 90,000 square miles. In addition to the 2000 people killed and million displaced as a result of the Hurricane, a significant number of people, according to multiple studies, suffered and continue to suffer from mental health issues including stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD. After the Hurricane, communities were both physically and emotionally devastated leaving individuals without loved ones, homes, belongings or jobs (Rhodes, J., Chan, C., Paxson, C., Rouse, C. E., Waters, M. and Fussell, E., 2010. p. 238). The Gulf Coast, whose mental health system had been obliterated by the Hurricane, was in desperation of mental health services in order to prevent chaos and initiate recovery immediately. The U.S. government did not provide sufficient services; thus, illustrating how the affected communities’ mental health needs weren’t being met and continue to not be met today. The survivors of Hurricane Katrina did not receive sufficient mental health services due to lack of government action and lack of programs with the capacity to assist large numbers of people which resulted in the individuals and communities affected to endure homelessness, poverty, and mental health issues even till this day.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the United States. The storm resulted in more then US$100 billion in damage when the cities flood protection broke and 80% of the city was flooded (1). The protection failure was not the only cause for the massive flooding, the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of New Orleans into the city. 330,000 homes were destroyed and 400,000 people from New Orleans were displaced, along with 13,00 killed (1). Although the population quickly recovered, the rate of recovery slowed down as the years went on leading us to believe not everyone
On August 29th, 2006 New Orleanians were expecting a total of 12 to 15 inches of rain and extended five or six inches from the upcoming storm later known as the costliest hurricane in U.S history. The Category 3 hurricane devastated most of eastern North America with blustery winds of 170 mph (280 km per hour) and storm surge values ranging from 10 to 20 feet. The storm called ‘’Hurricane Katrina’’ originated in the Bahamas on August 23th, 2005, but only became a devastation the next day. On August 28th, Hurricane Katrina succeeded a Category 3 hurricane(sustained winds of 122 kt) and exceeded the limits of a Category 5 storm (sustained winds of 136 kt). The following day, the cyclone shifted northwest towards Mississippi and Louisiana, where the hurricane hit the hardest. New Orleans was one of the cities where the most damage was caused; leaving a negative environment, residential and economic effects on the Gulf Coast.
On August 29, 2005, the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in American history hit the Gulf Coast at eight o’clock a.m. The interaction between a tropical depression and a tropical wave created a tropical storm later referred to as Hurricane Katrina (FAQS, 2013). Forming over the Bahamas, Hurricane Katrina gradually strengthened as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. Recorded on August 28th, 2005, Katrina jumped from a category three storm to a category five storm with maximum sustained winds up to 160 miles per hour. Although other hurricanes, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, exceeded Katrina, this dominant storm was classified as the fourth most intense hurricane based its pressure capacity. Once Hurricane Katrina hit land, it was pronounced as a category four storm moving slowly. While people thought that the slow speed of this storm prevented trauma, records show that Katrina did more damage than any fast-moving storm could have ever achieved (Solanki, 2013). Katrina produced abundant debris. The debris was in such large quantity that if it was stacked together on a football field, the rubble would reach the elevation of ten and a half miles. The size of Katrina also caused 90,000 square miles to be affected. Once proclaimed a category three storm, Hurricane Katrina slowed to the speed of 155 miles per hour. At this point in time, Katrina proved to be the sixth most prevailing hurricane traced in history. (Solanki, 2013). Several different aspects of life were impacted by Hurricane Katrina such as availability of gasoline, economic issues, and the ability to have an adequate supply of drinking water (Solanki, 2013). Hurricane Katrina was a large storm ...
The effects caused by earthquakes are devastating. They cause loss of human life and have effects on infrastructure and economy. Earthquakes can happen at any time anywhere. In January 12, 2010 an earthquake of a magnitude of 7.0 hit the nation of Haiti. An estimation of 316,000 people were killed, and more than 1.3 million Haitians were left homeless (Earthquake Information for 2010). Haiti was in a terrified chaos. After the earthquake, families were separated because many of the members were killed. Homes, schools, and hospitals were demolished. People lost their most valuable belongings. It will take time for the country to recover from this terrible disaster. The long damages are economic issues, health-state, and environmental issues that effect in the beautiful island of Haiti.
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
All the natural disasters are unpredictable and no one knows when they will destroy one’s life. The unpredictable disasters occur everywhere, anytime around the world. All the areas shaken on January 12, 2010, Haiti became catastrophic in the sixty seconds, with the largest earthquake in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, killed more than 200,000 people. As soon as the unexpected disaster occurred at 4:53 in the afternoon, everything in the area stopped to function as if no one had lived there. In a memoir, The World Is Moving Around Me, Laferrière vividly describes all the events he experienced from Haiti earthquake, showing how the disaster can make great impacts on people’s lives. Human time in Haiti was contained in the sixty seconds that the first violent tremors took to change their lives (Laferrière 23). For once, their misfortune was not exotic. What happened to them could have happened anywhere. Death is always sudden although most of the people are insensitive to the fact in life. It depends on our awareness to respond an unexpected catastrophe and prevent physical and mental effects afterwards. It is an international problem that all the people around the world should help and cooperate to solve following challenges from the chaos. With political and socio-economic aspects of the developing country, there are significant strategies to recover from the catastrophe based on sustainable development in Haiti. The government as well as other organizations work for humanitarian relief around the world and they affect to other international factors such as global health, education and basic needs to live as a human being.
In Heinrich von Kleist’s, The Earthquake in Chile, illustrates the story of star-crossed lovers brought together through a natural disaster. The description of the earthquake presents itself as a scene from hell. The relation between the destructiveness of the earthquake and the image of hell of apocalyptic literature presents the end of the world for the people of Chile. Kleist uses imagery to portray post earthquake Chile as the Garden Eden, the presence of a pomegranate tree symbolizes the start a new life and foreshadows the inevitable end for Josepha and Jeronimo. By introducing a pomegranate tree , Kleist frames the effects of the earthquake as an opportunity for and altruistic community. The symbolism of the pomegranate tree in the “Garden of Eden” symbolizes fertility for the rebirth of the Chilean community. Heinrich von Kleist’s, The Earthquake in Chile, presents the destructiveness of an earthquake as a transition from the image of hell to an opportunity to rebuild the community.
December 29th. It’s been four days since the earthquake. I’ve been walking around the church with a map since this morning. I’m jotting down where crevices have formed and places where it’s flooded. It’d be fatal to go to such dangerous areas in the future if the snow covers the ground, and we’ll also be able to tell the difference even if any other aftershocks change the terrain. And this isn’t a practical reason, but gathering information should give us some peace of mind. We still do not have any information, and we have no way to find out what’s happening. Anxiety flourishes without information, so we should observe the situation and gather information on our own in order to figure out what we should do. This was Tanomura-san’s idea, and I have no objections with it. I started exploring, but I haven’t met any survivors yet. I tried making a smoke signal, but the white smoke was lost in the cloudy sky and the falling snow, so it wasn’t effective. But I did meet dead people. I noticed countless corpses we had previously overlooked while carefully trampling down the snow and mapping the landscape around me. For example, I was inspecting a landslide when I saw a hand sticking out. For example, I was surveying the scope of the flood when I saw black hair swaying deep in the water. For example, I saw something red dripping out of a crushed car. I see all this just by walking around. I’m sure I’d find many more dead bodies if I decided to search through the collapsed buildings. My legs are tired by the time I make it back to the church. I brush the snow off a nearby concrete block and sit on it. In front of me is the flooded town. The deep pool extends almost to my feet. The water’s surface creates a dark grey reflection of the sky. ...
Hurricanes occur all over the world, at different times, but commonly through June first and late November. However in late August 2005 a catastrophic hurricane struck. This was Hurricane Katrina. With winds traveling over one hundred miles per hour making it a category five on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Scale it was said to have cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly forty thousand homes, and killed at least two thousand people (“Hurricane”). An average category five hurricane has enough energy to power street lamps for more than twenty seven thousand hours (Williams 58). Knowing about Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation of the city in New Orleans would be beneficial. Also, general information on hurricanes can help civilians and people of higher authority better understand and prepare for damage that could once hit their town and community. Because experts know the general information on these storms they can help explain to the public why and how Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes occur. Hopefully, in the future civilians will know and use this information to their advantage against hurricanes.