You will have studied a recent earthquake event. To what extent is this location likely to be well prepared for an earthquake in the future? Explain your answer fully using specific detail. 6 marks.

The magnitude 7 earthquake that hit the LEDC central American country of Haiti on the 12th January 2010 is an event that one could argue highlights how the country is not sufficiently prepared for future earthquakes. In the short term, approximately 3 million people were affected with over 220,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries. With the epicentre a mere 25km from the capital, Port-au-Prince, businesses, hospitals and transport links were severely damaged in a densely populated area. Many secondary impacts took months to be realised, such as cholera outbreaks and relocation of the affected population to over 1,300 refugee camps. The response to the natural hazard was limited greatly by the GDP of Haiti, where, in 2010, most Haitians lived on less than $2 per day, and the lack of earthquake resistant buildings. Most of the response to the earthquake has been reactive to the event and supported financially by foreign aid. Unfortunately, in the following years, very few proactive disaster reduction strategies have been completed. The country is still in a process of rebuilding existing structures rather than building new earthquake resistant homes, hospitals and businesses. This results in Haiti still being underprepared for any future earthquake events.