Many would definitely agree that the earthquake that shook Haiti was one of the most surprising natural disasters that has ever graced the world so far. With the presence of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that happened sometime in January 2010, many people witnessed how islands were suddenly devastated. This left a lot of people homeless which was sad too. There is a ton of Haiti Earthquake 2010 Facts. This has been observed.
What really happened prior to the earthquake? Even before that unfortunate event, Haiti was considered to be a poor country. As a matter of fact, it is dubbed as the poorest in the whole world. Among the 169 countries, it ranked 145. This was in accordance to the studies undertaken by the UN Human Development Index. It had been stated that over 70% of the mentioned population was surviving under the line of poverty.
There is a variation in the death toll. This has been estimated. It was known for it to start somewhere from 220,000 down to 316,000. It was even claimed that there was a million of people who were displaced initially. Today, 500,000 individuals still remain homeless. It is known as a fact that the country was built in a particular fault line. What is even more surprising is that Haiti did not follow any sort of building codes. This is one of the reasons why there is no reason to ensure if the said building is really safe or not. As an aftermath to this, the infrastructure of Haiti was easily demolished. An estimated 30,000 homes were destroyed. The capital city of Port-au-Prince was deeply affected during that time. This was responsible for destroying crucial government roads, hospitals and buildings.
How the situation did affected children? It was reported that 4,000 schools were left damaged. This was a quarter of the entire schools seen in the islands. Ever since, Haiti had a problem with cholera. This was exacerbating. However, an outbreak was experienced in October 2010. As for June 2013 though, almost 8,173 people died from this Cholera in Haiti. The total case for this was 664,282.
Even foreigners were caught in the whole debacle. Peacekeepers also died in the earthquake. This happened along the presence of 122 Americans. As an international response, the entire international community happened to be remarkably empathetic in the crisis itself. International donors suddenly surfaced. The mentioned community was able to raise $6.43 billion for the reconstruction of the damaged areas of the country. As an addition to this, USAID doled out $450 million in order to be of help to Haiti.
Since the earthquake occurred, efforts in reconstructions were realized. Aid organizations took charge in the rebuilding of 21,000 houses. They were even able to make 100,000 shelters which were temporarily taken as homes. Rubble had been removed and 650 of the destroyed schools were repaired accordingly. The American Red Cross provided clean water to almost 400,000 people. This was coupled with hygiene and health education.