Collège Samuel de Missy
IES Josep Miquel Guàrdia
Liceo Linguistico, sez. staccata Liceo Classico “G. Leopardi”
Radyr Comprehensive School
Rsg de Borgen
Salzmannschule Schnepfenthal
1ο ΓΕΝΙΚΟ ΛΥΚΕΙΟ ΤΡΙΑΝΔΡΙΑΣ 1st lyceum of Triandria
On January 12, 2010 at 4:53 pm CET, a devastating earthquake in Haiti, hit the Richter Scale with 7.0 in strength. The disaster destroyed 300,000 human lives, injured 300,000 people and took the home of 1.2 million inhabitants. All in all 3 million people were affected by this earthquake which is a third of the population of Haiti. Eye-witnesses reported about a huge dusk cloud over Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Ten days after the catastrophe the search for survivors has officially been stopped but of course there were some private groups that did not give up hope.
Tectonic Background
The earthquake was in the border zone between the Caribbean and the North American plate. This border is dominated by sinistral plate movement. But there is an irregular course of the border and so the plates do not only glide past each other but also crush in some areas.
Course of the earthquake
The earthquake focus was 25 kilometres south-western of Port-au-Prince in a depth of about 13 kilometres. This one lasted only one minute in which around 200 000 people died; there were several aftershocks in an intensity of up to 6.1. It was also noticeable in the Dominican Republic but it did not cause any bigger damage. Preventatively Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas were warned of a probably occuring Tsunami ten minutes after the earthquake but the warning was cancelled out after several hours.
Affected regions
The most affected departments were Ouest, Sud-Est and Nippes whereas the most concerned city was Léogâne, which is situated 30 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince where there was the destruction of 90 percent. But because of its size there were the most deaths in the capital and its suburbs while the most victims were because of housing losses and injuries.
Damages
The appraisement of the USA was that the starting position in Haiti was more devastating than the one of the tsunami tragedy in 2004 in the Indian Ocean because of the lack of infrastructure. In the capital thousands of buildings were destroyed, for example the catholic cathedral where also the archbishop died, a former children’s hospital and a presidential palace but the presiden René Préval survived. Several factors complicated the rescue of the victims shortly after the earthquake: It was one hour before nightfall, the electricity and telephone networks did not work anymore and the medical supply was affected by the destruction and was overextended. The determination of the number of deaths was difficult because many people could not be identified and they were buried in mass graves without counting them.
Consequences
Haiti has a bad health care system which is why there was an inadequate supply of the injureds and urgently needed drugs were rare. There was no safety given anymore so that there was a lot of violence and plundering. In the end of february there should have been parliamentary elections but they were postponed because the offices of the Electoral Commission have also been destroyed.
Housings for the homeless
Two months after the earthquake there was still a lack of accomodations for the homeless people. Of course there already are hundreds of camps but there are no toilets or power supply. The biggest camp is on the “Champ de Mars” in Port-au-Prince situated opposite of the presidential palace. 30 000 people “live” there.
International support
The first nation that helped was the Dominican Republic. They arrived early in the morning one day after the earthquake with mobile hospitals, ambulances, health personnel. They sent equipment like mattresses, blankets and food. The USA supported Haiti, too. Barack Obama asked his predecessors G.W. Bush and B. Clinton to donate money to the US makeshift. Furthermore they sent about 6,000 soldiers and ships with supplies and called this aid “Unified Response”. But the relief was complicated since the port and the airport of the capital have almost been destroyed so the supplies have been dropped by parachute.
At the moment there is still a lot to do to recreate the point of departure. But now that the rain has come back to Haiti there is a little spark of hope.
Vanessa Rund (10/1), Sarah Leyh (10/2)
Fundraising at Salzmannschule Schnepfenthal
On January 23rd, during open house day at Salzmannschule Schnepfenthal, students, staff, parents and guests raised money with the help of various activities and donated 685,90 € to the Red Cross.
Betroffen von den erschütternden Nachrichten und Bildern aus Haiti beschlossen die Schüler des Staatlichen Spezialgymnasiums für Sprachen, am Tag der offenen Tür am 23.01.2010 eine Spendensammlung zur Unterstützung internationaler Hilfsaktionen durchzuführen. Schüler, Lehrer, Erzieher, Eltern und Gäste spendeten insgesamt 685,90 €. Das Geld wurde an das Deutsche Rote Kreuz überwiesen.
