The Haitian earthquake of 2010 was a severe crisis that became a devastating disaster with lasting effects on the entire nation ranging from economic instability to social unrest and resulting in a drawn out period of recovery. Haiti the second largest island and one of the poorest countries in the world, is situated on the western part of the Island La Espanola and was colonized by the French and Spanish colonies is considered the third largest country in the Caribbean. Between 1940 and 1960, it was a popular tourist destination but due to the dictatorship by Francois Duvalier, the industry became crippled due to a lack of economic development in that sector. Haiti is plagued by political violence and unrest resulting in the lack of economic opportunities and social infrastructure due to increased political unrest (Katz, 2014). On January …show more content…
The catastrophe had a 7.0 magnitude earthquake displaced roughly about 1.5 million people and resulted in a humanitarian crisis. Due to Haiti’s history with devastating earthquakes, in 2008, scientists predicted and warned of the risk of an earthquake happening in Haiti. Although the probability of the frequency of an earthquake happening in Haiti was high, they country was not better prepared for it. Scientists believed the continued movement of the land scape shaped by the collision of the North American and Caribbean earth’s plates known as a Strike Slip Fault which played a key role in the massive devastation. As the plates continue to slowly grinding past each other builds stress and once it’s released is when there is a sudden earthquake (Griggs, 2010). After the catastrophe happened, it not only affected Port au Prince but a wider population including the whole country and its regions. The impacts were multi-central since they covers many sectors within the economy such as the