This map represents three areas in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The three placemarks on the map represent the National Penitentiary, Palais National, and Place du Marron. These three places are important landmarks in Port-au-Prince. The Palais National is equivalent to the White House and where many of the Haitian government officials worked and did business, the National Penitentiary is where thousands of inmates were serving time for crimes committed, and the Place du Marron was a beautiful park. Port-au-Prince was severely impacted by a Earthquake that took place on January 12, 2010. Haiti lies on the boundary of the Caribbean tectonic plate and the North American tectonic plate. The Earthquake in 2010 resulted from a transform boundary, which means that the two tectonic plates slid past each other resulting in a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. There were around 250,000 residencies and 30,000 commercial buildings that had been severely damaged or completely collapsed from the Earthquake. 54 aftershocks were recorded between January 12 and January 24. The death toll is estimated somewhere between 100,000 and 316,000. Based on this data, it is pretty apparent that the 2010 Earthquake was quite the catastrophic event for Haiti.
Below is two photos of satellite images of Port-au-Prince, Haiti showing the damage of the 2010 Earthquake. The first image was taken January 2010, right before the Earthquake. The second photo was taken November 2010, taken 9 months post Earthquake.
Photos taken using Google Earth Pro.
These two images allow you to visualize just how much damage this Earthquake caused to Haitians. Many buildings are completely destroyed, structures left behind are severely damaged, and overall, the second image just looks sad. In Amy Potter's research, she talks about how natural disasters, such as hurricanes, often severely impact Haiti. Obviously, the 2010 Earthquake was no exception. Potter's research was completed in 2008, so her she did not get to research how the 2010 Earthquake impacted Haiti. However, her research from previous natural disasters can closely align with this one.
When using the time-lapse feature on Google-Earth Pro, it is not until 2012/2013 that you start to visibly notice reconstruction efforts. This is caused by and further contributes to Haiti's poverty levels that Amy Potter talked about in her research. The state that Haiti was in pre-earthquake made it more difficult for Haiti to reconstruct the damage than a place with more access to resources and funding. The Earthquake further added to poverty and crime because many individuals were left homeless, there were not many places of employment, resources were scarce, and criminals had to be released from prison. This can be compared to a snowball effect.
Despite the negative circumstances, the Haitians did everything in their power to come together during this time. This is where the theme of Place comes in. Despite not having much, the Hatian's had a strong sense of place and took pride in their community. They lent each other a helping hand and came together. The theme of mobility comes in when other communities and countries come in to help. People came from all over to help out, send resources, and provide support. This disaster relates to the theme of landscape because of obvious reasons, the landscape was completely demolished; infrastructure, vegetation, natural, and human-made. But, the sense of place and mobility is the reason that the Haitians were able to reconstruct the community.
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