Haiti Earthquake
On January 12, 2010 one of the worst natural disasters happened in the worlds history to an island right next to the Dominican Republic called, Haiti. The Richter scale reached 7.0, and caused about 7.8 billion dollars. If you think about it the total amount would roughly be the doubled amount of the NFL team the Dallas Cowboys, which is valued at 4 billion according to Forbes.
1. This earthquake left the economy in shambles. Their country was growing at a rapid rate from costing 11.6 billion dollars in 2008 to 11.9 billion dollars in 2009. Haiti has never really been economically stable, with about 80% of the population below the poverty line. The reason being is they always end up growing a little bit, but eventually a tropical storm always destroys stuff, so they have to spend their money on repairs.
2. As I said in the introduction paragraph, there were 7.8 billion dollars in damages. So for any small businesses were completely wiped out, or had to be rebuilt after the natural disaster.
3. Before this huge earthquake, Haiti was doing well, as I said in number 1, their infrastructure was growing and becoming stronger. Then once January 12, 2010 hit, the infrastructure was completely ruined. They had to start all over again.
4. This immense earthquake caused a ton of resources to become rare and limited.
Haiti’s agriculture and industries were destroyed in the earthquake, which cause Haiti's unemployment rate to go up even more. The agriculture business accounted for a lot of their employment and of course food on the families tables. Most of Haiti’s primary exports such as mangoes and coffee are saw a large drop off.
5. The effects of this earthquake are still being felt. Haiti is still rebuilding its country and especially their economy. Even if you weren't in the capital, you still felt it because you weren't getting the materials to survive because everything came from the capital.
6. After January 12, 2010, everybody's life was crushed in one day. People cant really go anywhere because they don't have the money because it all went to rebuilding the country and their houses. This natural disaster, even though it happened 6 years ago, brought long term affects for the nation as a whole.
7.
This picture shows that literally houses were completely destroyed. Everything was in ruins, or just the foundation
This picture shows were exactly where the natural disaster occurred. Even though it hit a couple cities, it ruined the most important sea port in the country
Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/teams/dallas-cowboys/
http://haitiearthquake.web.unc.edu/economic-impact-of-the-earthquake/
