Research Paper On Haiti Earthquake

It was 4:53 p.m. in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12, 2010. The hustle and bustle of a routine Tuesday afternoon had began to die down, but that particular day was far from over. In fact, this day, this dream, this nightmare, was just beginning. All of a sudden, the ground began to shake as an earthquake rocked the Caribbean country. A estimated magnitude 7 earthquake had occurred and nearly 50 aftershocks followed. The quake was the most powerful experienced by the country in over two centuries, and it left 316,000 people dead while forcing another million people to permanently evacuate from their homes (“Haiti Earthquake of 2010”). There is no doubt that along with the physical, tangible effects of this disaster came the unseen emotional and mental horrors associated with a traumatic event like an earthquake that permanently displaced someone and killed many of their loved ones.
Granted, the entire cascade of events associated with this natural disaster was very unfortunate and disheartening. But, the Haitian nation was simply not adequately prepared to prevent the effects of the earthquake from reaching as far as they did. As a result, a mind boggling question has been raised: could simple efforts have caused this catastrophe to have been less catastrophic? This research topic is being explored by building officials, architects, and designers worldwide who seek to lessen earthquake-related effects on society (Jain). As living standards rise and urbanism spreads in the modern world, the potentiality for earthquake-related catastrophe has spiked. Therefore, cautious steps must be taken to decrease the level of all earthquake-related catastrophes in developing countries while technology behind earthquake resistant architecture is reengineered and