Haiti 2010 Earthquake Essay

Prior to the 2010 earthquake, an estimated 86% of Haitians in Port AU Prince lived in the slums, in shoddy infrastructure, with limited education opportunities and only 50% had access to tap water (DEC,2016). Haiti suffers frequent earthquakes and is increasingly vulnerable to intense climate change related weather systems. In 2010, Haiti experienced a catastrophic event, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, as well as several strong aftershocks, that led to significant loss of life, displacement, damage to localized infrastructure and severe economic losses (Cavallo, 2010). Historically, Haiti is an impoverished nation that has struggled to achieve economic stability for decades and has been subjected to ongoing political and government corruption (Morales & Margesson, 2011). Besides poverty and corruption, other characteristics that increases Haiti’s vulnerability to disaster include unstable infrastructure,

For example, the majority of Haitian farmers are located in rural areas that are not easily accessible and are unsupported by reliable infrastructure (Shamsie, 2012). Local communities are heavily reliant on rural farmers for their food supply, and the 2010 earthquake essentially devastated agriculture and infrastructure that connected rural farm communities to surrounding towns; creating food insecurity post disaster (Shamsie, 2012). Although generous amounts of aid have been invested in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, rural farm communities have received what can be described as minimal aid (Shamsie, 2012). The 2011 elected President of Haiti, Michel Martelly, argues that the overall underinvestment in Haiti’s agriculture has increased its vulnerability to food insecurity post disaster and has limited potential production opportunities that could boost Haiti’s local economy (Shamsie,