Haiti Earthquake

Haiti Earthquake

Introduction

On 12th January, 2010, a great earthquake of 7.0 on Richter scale hits the impecunious country of Haiti. Afterward there were over 30 powerful reverberations. The Haitian command stated that approximately Two hundred thirty thousand people had passed away; Three hundred thousand had been wounded. One year later, One million people stay put on the streets. In Port-au-Prince, Twenty eight percent of reviewed constructions were crumpled, with Thirty three percent needing refurbishes. In Léogâne, sixty two percent of constructions crumpled, and Thirty one percent needs refurbish. People have suffered with the post-traumatic shock syndrome and other psychological disorder.

Literature Review

Haiti Earthquake

Earthquake in Haiti in 2010 was a major earthquake on the island of Haiti, which took place on January 12 to 16 hours 53 minutes local time (UTC-5) at 22 km south-west of the capital of the Republic of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, and hypocenter at depth of 13 km. After the main shock of magnitude 7, repeated aftershocks were reported, 15 of them with magnitudes greater than 5. Haiti earthquake was the result of crustal movements in the contact zone of Caribbean and North American lithospheric plates. The last time an earthquake of such a destructive force in Haiti occurred in 1751. According to official data on March 18, 2010 the death toll amounted to 222 570 people injured - 311 thousand, 869 missing persons. Property damage is estimated at 5.6 billion Euros (Diggs, 2011).

Destruction

It seems impossible to measure the massive destruction in Haiti earthquake. The earthquake brings loss to physical demolitions of infrastructures and wealth. There are however some invisible injuries too. The Psyches of survivors are facing these injuries. It is the slowest process of emotional wound to develop in these survivors, but if these wounds exist it would be difficult to heal. It seems too early to think about it, but the Haitians who endured in earthquake are at the danger to develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

Americans are now familiar with this disorder after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. The veterans who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffered with the symptoms of anxiety, emotional numbing, depression and sleeping difficulties. Soon after the earthquake Haitian-born psychologist Marie Guerda Nicolas of the University of Miami said that there is a lot of wailing and crying (Erikson, 2010). The survivors may fall and faint, but it does not mean that they will not function or cope from it. She also said that it would be difficult for many people to cope up. It happens when the shooting or the shaking or the flooding stops that PTSD begins to appear.

When things are quiet, then they will start thinking of destruction and events they witnessed. The post part of post-traumatic reaction suddenly surprise people. The brain lives in fear in a particular secure way. It is hard for a person to forget these events. New England Journal of Medicine also enlightened this idea soon after the quake. The doctors mental and physicians both are equally sent to Haiti because, of physical ...