Geographic Effects on Cholera in Haiti
The Earthquake
On Tuesday, January 12, 2010 a 7.0 ranked earthquake hit Haiti, about fifteen miles outside of the capital and largest city, Port-Au-Prince (Magnitude 7.0 -Haiti Region, 2013). The effect the earthquake had on the country was disastrous. Only one hospital in the capital was able to remain open, making emergency health access difficult to obtain (news.com). The control tower at the airport was severely damaged, and the city’s seaport was shut down from damage, limiting travel in and out of the country (Lipton, 2010). Prime Minister Jean Max-Bellerive estimated that over 280,000 houses and buildings were either destroyed or had to be torn down from severe damage, including the headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and many Haitian government buildings (Allen, 2010). Overall, more than 1,300,000 people lost their homes (Magnitude 7.0 -Haiti Region, 2013).
The homeless numbered in the millions, and the Haitian government was tasked with the job to shelter them. At first, many of the Haitians who had lost their homes lived in the streets, in cars, or in makeshift shanty homes. Refugee camps were set up throughout the country within months of the event to accommodate them (Charles et. al., 2010). The camps would house thousands of Haitians in small tents, often only inches apart. In one particular camp, , tens of thousands of Haitians lived on only 1,000 hectares (ipsnews, 2013). Lack of water is a substantial issue within the camps -- in 2012, only 64% of the country’s population had access to clean water, while only 24% had sanitary facilities after the earthquake hit (WHO / UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme: Tables, 2014). The majority of the refugee camps used drainage canals and rivers for water, however, these same drainage canals and rivers were also used to dump waste (Schindall et. al., 2014). Others, such as those living in Corail-Cesselesse camp, eventually had sanitary facilities built, albeit three years after the quake. Many camps were set up at the banks of rivers, in flooded plains, or on top of landfills -- wherever water was available. Here, the ground quality was poor and houses and tents would flood with every rainfall. (L’Etang & Waine, 2012).