Introduction:

The Haitian earthquake was so deadly for many reasons. It was a disaster because the
destruction that the earthquake left in its place was beyond the scope of being dealt
with inside Haiti. The earthquake was so devastating for three main reasons: the
characteristics of the earthquake, Haitis location, and Haitis poor risk mitigation.

History of Haiti:
Haiti was once the richest country in the Americas. But, as they felt vulnerable for
attack, the country agreed to pay France for loss of property, a debt that took 120
years to repay. This one event launched a cycle of debt, dependence and instability.
After two centuries of dictatorship and military rule it plunged the country deeper into
debt. In 1990, a former Catholic priest Jean Bertin was elected president. After nine
months he was ousted in a military coup. In 1994, president Bill Clinton backed
Bertins re-return to power. Imports from the United States flooded the country
forcing many of Haitis farms out of business, and off the farms and into urban slums.
This set the stage for the food riot that swept the country. In 2008 four hurricanes
killed 800 people and caused more then a billion dollars worth of damage. Haitis
history contributed to the death toll as it crippled the economy and impacted their
citizens, and started the cycle of debt, dependence and instability.

Causes of the earthquake:

The main cause of the earthquake is the geographical location of Haiti. Haiti is
located in the Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the
Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic. And
near three tectonic plates: South American plate, North American plate, and
Caribbean plate. The North and South American plate are trying to move west in
relation to the Caribbean plate, which is trying to move east. Near Haiti, the two
plates grind together, which causes a transform (conservative) earthquake.When the
earthquake struck, the Haitian people felt the release of energy from the EnriquilloPlaintain Garden fault system. The two sides of the fault line moved past each other
in an east-west direction and thats what caused the energy release and the Haiti
earthquake.

Development Factors
ThedevelopmentfactorsclearlyshowthatHaitiisanundevelopedcountry.Haitis
GDPperCapitais$1200,thisisverylowcomparedtoamoredevelopedcountrylike
Norway,whoseGDPperCapitais$55,300.Anotherindicatoristhelowliteracyrate,
which is 52.9% of Haitis population. When comparing it to a more developed
country,likeNorway,whoseLiteracyrateis100%,Haitisliteracyrateisextremely
low.

Development level of Haiti

Haitis low level of development had a huge impact on the death toll of the
earthquake, because it is undeveloped in so many areas, three of them being: poor
economy, poor infrastructure and the fact that the literacy rate is low meaning people
are not well educated. If Haiti was a rich and developed country the death toll be a lot
lower as the infustructure and economy would be stronger and therefore can handle
earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Multiple Hazard Location:

A multiple hazard location is a place that is prone to earthquakes, and other natural
disasters. The fact that Haiti is a multiple hazard location impacted the death toll
positively and negatively. It impacted positively as although it is impossible to predict
an earthquake. When people know that the country is prone to natural disasters, they
can be more prepared. However, the negatives over rule the positives, as natural
disasters destroy almost everything leaving Haiti in utter chaos, as Haitis economy is
so poor that it does not have the money to repair the damage the earthquake caused.

http://www.livescience.com/9797-devastating-haiti-earthquakequestions-answers.html
http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blchaiti.htm