CJA 375 Week 5 Emergency Prepardness

DISASTER OF PORT-AU-PRINCE

Summary of the Event

Port-Au-Prince is the capital city of Haiti located at coordinates 18°32′N 72°20′W. Haiti is an island nation in the Caribbean. The city is located by the sea on the Gulf of Gonave, a deep natural harbor. The city is ringed with hills. The island of Haiti overlies a fault line in the earth’s crust, the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system (Marley, 2005).

Haiti is a 3rd World Country and consequently, the city is a third world city. It has a population of 1,897,846 souls within its boundaries. For a country to be defined as a third world country, it must fulfill at least two of the following three conditions, first, its main source of income is mainly from agricultural or mining activities. Secondly, its education, health and infrastructure sectors must be poorly developed as indicated by high levels of mortality, low life expectancy and high illiteracy levels among the population. Thirdly the per capita income of the population should be less than $1000 per annum. Using this criterion, Port-au-Prince qualifies as a third world city. The main driver of the economy of Port-au-Prince is the export of coffee and sugar thus agriculture is the main driver of the economy of the City. Secondly, the city has only two operational hospitals, which operate at low efficiency. The city has a number of highways but they are poorly maintained and only see limited use. The infant mortality rate is 55 deaths per 1000 live births, a very high number compared to only 6 per 1000 births in other countries. The GDP per capita for the city is $851 per annum. Therefore, port au prince fulfils all three criteria and is therefore classified as a third world country (Tobin, 2013).

The natural hazards that could affect Port-au-Price include Earthquakes, Tsunamis, hurricanes, Landslides, Floods and wild fires (Wade, 2010).

On 12 January 2010 4:53 pm, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince and it wrecked the city. Several buildings were lost including a number of government buildings such as the legislative palace which housed parliament, the palace of Justice which housed the Supreme Court, the presidential palace, several ministerial buildings, the city’s main hospital , the sea port, and the airport. The death toll was estimated to be about 160,000 people with official government records reporting as high as 220,000 deaths. The government estimated that 250,000 residences were destroyed, 30,000 commercial buildings were brought down, and an estimated 3,000,000 people were affected as a result of the quake (ABC News, 2010).

Roles of Response Agencies

As a result of the 2010 earthquake, Port-au-Prince is in a precarious position with respect to any Natural disaster. Already, the damage that an earthquake can do to the city has already materialized. The whole city, and indeed the country was brought to a standstill as all major government operations had been centralized in the city. The destruction of the government buildings and records simply made government operations impossible. Social services and amenities such as running water, hospitals and schools were severely curtailed. The bursting of sewage pies which have contaminated available water has caused an outbreak of cholera which is still continuing to date since 2010. Should a hurricane strike Port-au-Prince now, the immediate effect would be the loss of numerous lives as a result of exposure to the elements. The first people to die would be the children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems either as a result of disease or malnourishment. Immediately afterwards, there would be an outbreak of water-communicable diseases such as cholera, Typhoid, Bilharzia and Malaria as a result of the flooded conditions of the city. This would also claim a fair share of lives. The heavy rain would also trigger landslides in the hilly areas surrounding the city, resulting into people being buried alive, and further deaths. Should lightning strike the city and start a fire. The fire would rapidly spread among the informal settlements that comprise a great section of the city. This would result into the deaths of people and the destruction of property. The city is located next to the seas shore and in the event of a Tsunami following an earthquake, a large portion of people would be swept out to sea (Wade, 2010).

The effect of these hazards would be a breakdown in the social structure of the country. An earthquake would collapse hundreds of buildings, a hurricane would cause damage to numerous buildings and displacement of people from their homes, the consequent flooding would cause an outbreak water-borne diseases that would further decimate the population. A tsunami would wipe away the sea harbor which is a crucial trade point for the country.

Crisis Responders

Due to its status as a third world country, there were no established local first responders following the disaster. This fact contributed to the numerous deaths which followed the disaster. Effective Emergency response was first conducted by the International Red Cross who set up humanitarian centers all over the island and helped in the distribution of food, shelter and other emergency relief supplies. There were also numerous donations received from the international community as well as an influx of volunteers who wished to help in the disaster recovery effort. All these people were coordinated by the International Red Cross, assigning each of the various duties according to their skills.

Crisis Response Objectives

The most threatening hazard to Port-au-prince following the damage inflicted by the 2010 earthquake would be a hurricane. This is because the copious amounts of water and the high winds associated with the occurrence of a hurricane would have a severe toll on the people who have poor shelter and medical facilities. In order to mitigate the effects of such an occurrence, the first agenda should be government organization and structure. The government should be clearly organized with departments and a clear hierarchy to ensure responsibility distributed manageably and that people are answerable for their actions. There should be established a disaster forecast, warning and management system. This unit should be responsible for preparing the country for the event of a disaster which they are most at risk by making plans, contingencies and protocols to follow in the event of such outcomes. Additionally, the public should be educated about disasters and the measures to take in the event of a natural disaster of any type such as earthquakes and floods. There should be created an emergency broadcast system and the public made aware of it so as to ensure efficient communication between the government and the people in case of an emergency and for forecasting purposes (Wade, 2010).

Strategies for Future Recurrences

A hurricane is an event that can be tracked and forecast long before it reaches the city. Therefore, in the event of a hurricane, the first thing to do is to issue a hurricane warning and initiate a relief program. The focus of the program is disaster relief and not evacuation. I would build hurricane shelters all over the city and advise people to head to this point in the event of a hurricane. These centers would be fully stocked with food and water enough to feed over 200 people for several days if not months. This plan is feasible since the population of port-au-prince is not extremely large. For those people caught in the city during the hurricane, I would advise them to find the highest sheltered point they could, or if they could, head into the hills where the risk of flooding is significantly reduced (Wade, 2010).

Currently Port-au-Prince and all of Haiti is creating a disaster relief management fund which can be used for services in the event of a disaster such as the 20110 earthquake. They have set up a disaster relief commission to address disasters if and when they occur. The United Nations, The Red Cross and other humanitarian aid agencies have established offices in the country to help with disaster relief.

Challenge

The main challenge faced by the response teams was the poor infrastructure of the country. This had been further compounded by the wreckage brought about by the disaster, thereby compounding the problems. Additionally, due to the scarcity of relief food and medical supplies, gangs had formed which aimed to take control of the supply chain and thereby profit from controlling the distribution of these crucial supplies. Thirdly, being a tropical country, the volunteers as well as the staff of The Red Cross also developed tropical diseases, resulting in a drop in their efficiency.

References

ABC News. (2010, February 9). Haiti Raises Earthquake's Death Toll to 230,000. Retrieved from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=9790622

Marley, D. (2005). Historic Cities of the Americas. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLio.

Tobin, K. A. (2013). Population Density and Housing in Port-au-Prince. Journal of Urban History, 39(6), 1045-1061.

Wade, J. (2010). After Haiti: The Future of Disasters. Rsik Maagement, 57, 1-7.