Port-au-Prince

Earthquake

Ramiro Aznar Ballarin

February 2010
 Index
• Causes

• Effects and consequences

• Sustainable Reconstruction?

• Discussion
CAUSES
 15 Km

8.3 Km
 Sedimentology

alluvial
soils

Port-au-Prince

Lake Enriquillo Neiba Bahia

History
EFFECTS AND CONSEQUENCES
Ground shaking
Liquefaction
Local tsunami
Thousands of dead, injured and missing
people
 SUSTAINABLE
RECONSTRUCTION?
Land-use planning and resilient buildings
 Community resilience

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do

you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand
there is no going back? There are some things time
cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep that have
taken hold.”
FRODO BAGGINS, Return of the King
Prerequisite

“Haiti, with 76 per cent of its population

below the poverty line, paid $60 to $80
million a year in debt service over the last
decade”

SASKIA SASSEN (global city theorist)

DISCUSSION
 Questions
• Haiti is a country prone to natural disasters
(earthquakes, hurricanes…). Should people
continue to live there?

• Should be the model of (sustainable)

development be equal for all countries and
communities?