Tracking Population Movements With Mobile Phone Network Data

The key lessons that have been learnt from the event is that those in charge of ensuring the safety of Haiti’s citizens need to recognize the risk of their location and acknowledge the advice of seismologists for any future seismic events. The implementation of early warning systems and the use of SMS messaging as seen in Japan would greatly reduce the hazard of an earthquake. In addition, environmental management is crucial for the long term survival of Haiti, strategies to reduce deforestation and claiming back land unsuitable for housing would lead to better soil quality and less risk of landslides and liquefaction to buildings should another event occur. However, the main lesson to be drawn from the disaster is the need for proper construction techniques and guidelines. Education and training to provide construction workers with enough knowledge to make future infrastructure earthquake

Illness and disease along with poverty still plague Haiti today. The effort to try and recover from the most recent earthquake tragedy has Haitians concerned. The conditions that they have endured in the past just to survive are worse than the conditions brought on by the earthquake. Some Haitian natives feel the Government is moving a bit slow in cleaning up and getting

Though the earthquake happened quickly, the lasting impact and trauma remained. In an article from the Wall Street Journal, Luhnow and Dugan stated that following the event many people went searching for psychological support and aid instead of physical (2010). After having buildings tumble and fall onto people, many suffered from PTSD and survivors guilt; children were the most emotionally traumatized, and there was a fundamental lack of aid for facing psychological traumas endured by so many (Luhnow & Dugan, 2010). As a society, an increase in crime and violence is on the rise; Haitians had no defined structure in communities, and most established norms

Every year, there are approximately 150,000 deaths and 200 million people affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises (Thomas, 2003). Natural disasters alone, which include various occurrences, cause substantial disruptions such as the temporary displacement of more than five million people. According to the Fritz institute, statistics show that uprooted people from humanitarian crises such as civil conflict and war is greater, with an average of 13 million refugees and 20 million internally displaced people each year. As the biggest worldwide participants in the relief effort in the global community, disaster relief organizations are the forerunners of the help supplied to people affected by catastrophic events.

Emergency response will deal mainly with the issue of natural disasters cause grave damage in Haiti. After natural disasters the need for food and aid skyrockets to high levels. Levels that the normal infrastructure and system can not handle on its own. Looking at recent natural disasters since 2004 the total death toll from natural disasters is 307,104 Haitians (Kang). This is only counting a number of deaths not considering a large number of people that lost their homes and were displaced from it. The impact on families from natural disasters is extremely difficult to bounce back from if you are only able to make ends meet. The need for help after natural disasters is large and something that never seems to get met. Our goal for this solution is to provide great service to people around the Center and people who frequently visit the center. It is unrealistic to try and provide relief to the entire country after a natural disaster. Training with Food’s goal is very realistic and achievable after a natural

The primary response to the Haiti earthquake disaster would involve the issuance of the mandatory briefing, proper gear, and shots before taking off to Haiti. For Haiti nationals, immunization against outbreaks of measles, Hepatitis, and other communicable diseases would come in handy. Education in how to prevent, reduce and avoid spread of commun diseases during this type of event, will be essesntial. On the other hand, the secondary intervention would involve the evaluation of the damage, screening for injuries and diseases, such as infectious and communicable diseases. Finally, the tertiary intervention for the Haiti disaster would involve follow up care and post-traumatic stress educational forums for all the affected individuals (Katz,

The story of Haiti’s healthcare system is unfortunately tied all too closely to disaster, both man-made and nature-born. This paper will briefly discuss the pre-2010 earthquake healthcare environment in Haiti as the uncertainty that exists provides little opportunity to provide a reasoned understanding of its current national healthcare status.

Crisis information during Hurricane Katrina was immediately available through mass media; television, radio, the emergency broadcast system, and social media. During emergencies, the importance of our country’s communications systems becomes clear. These

The earthquake of 2010 altered the way the people of Haiti looked at everyday life, as well as, it caused them to be deprived of all hope on creating a new beginning. On Tuesday January 12, 2010, the Haitian society knew that their world would never be the same. Having killed over 300,000 people and wounded more than 200,000 people, the magnitude 7.0 earthquake was demoralizing to the Haitians (“The 2010 Haiti Earthquake”). To make matters worse, following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake there were twelve aftershocks containing a magnitude larger than 5.0 (“Earthquake in Haiti”). The outcome of the earthquake was devastating to the extent that the minority of people who survived stood on the remains of their churches, grocery stores, and even their own homes. Corporations like Merlin USA and others around the globe are contributing in various ways to help try to rebuild Haiti’s nation. Working to repair Haiti’s demolished society, Merlin tries to bring appropriate health care to all susceptible associations in Haiti (“Haiti”). Strongly, Merlin continues to put in a great effort and they have tended to around 47,986 patients merely in Port-au-Prince (“Haiti”). Sorrowfully, people are constantly dying from Cholera in Haiti; nevertheless, it seems to them that nothing the world can offer will be able to cure the adversity they have encountered.

GIS is a strategic tool emergency mangers rely on to find hidden patterns, relationships, and trends in certain hazardous and high risk areas in the community (Nirupama & Armnakis, 2013). Furthermore, GIS provides various consequences for disasters that can occur in these locations. This helps emergency managers create assessments on which critical services such as fire, emergency medical services, and police are unable to respond to certain hazard zones due to the effects. Additionally, since the GIS uses helicopters, planes, and satellites to capture pictures emergency mangers and first responders are able to see what conditions look like on the ground to help determine their avenues of approach and courses of actions (Kamien,

The differing needs of a vulnerable population have to be addressed in order to alleviate issues that were noted after Katrina. In particular, the needs which are known prior to a disaster, such as evacuation for the infirmed, elderly, impoverished, and those who lack the means to evacuate. The Department of Homeland Security represented a solution to addressing these needs via a three phase response: “pre-event planning and preparation, the event, and recovery” (Dept. Homeland Security, 2008). It has been widely studied that residents of a vulnerable community may be impacted more severely and are disproportionately affected than those with means following a disaster. Assessing how to prepare for each of the phases represents an issue for emergency managers especially when it comes to those who lack the means to prepare for themselves. Quickly rebuilding homes in a devastated area won’t help a community when a disaster strikes again. Platt stated that “disasters offer a window of opportunity to strengthen communities”, via “construction and change land uses to prevent a recurrence of a disaster”. (Platt, 1998) It also can be argued that following a disastrous event, this is when a true opportunity arises, by providing an opportunity to work through solving the societal issues that are the basis for a vulnerable populous via comprehensive political reforms and

Innovation is the best defense for being prepared for unavoidable disasters. Intellistreets, which has the design of a streetlight, provides a wide variety of assistance to Haiti during natural disasters. It is wireless technology that provides emergency alerting and public safety alerting. Intellistreet is composed of a dual radio mesh wireless system that microprocessors inside which allows for information gathering. For example, the streetlight structure has the capability of analyzing what the streetlight smells, hearing, seeing and smelling. When accessed on the web, emergency agencies are notified when environmental factors prompt the system. During hurricanes and cyclones, it is important the mass are notified in a timely manner, aid agencies are able to make victims aware ahead of time. Government officials will be able to issue emergency alerts as well as information in regards in to evacuation routes. The system will also give agencies the audio messages. During natural disaster it imperative residents get the help, Intellistreets will allow victims of natural disasters to press a button and talk to authorities and aid agencies. If aid agencies cannot communicate with victims, they cannot help them. During Haiti’s hurricane season Intellistreets could be installed in various that are more prone to be destructed to keep a line of communication with the

On January 12, 2010 on of the world’s deadliest earthquakes struck Haiti. In his book, Humanitarian Aftershocks in Haiti, Mark Schuller analyzes the presence of humanitarian aid agencies following the disaster. He discusses the impacts the aid had on the environment, development and globalization of Haiti.

The response for the natural disasters that hit Haiti in 2010 was slow. Haiti improved the water supply of 340,000 people, supplied drugs to five cholera treatment facilities, provided free medical care to 39,000, and gave tools and seeds to help 23,000 people in farming households to help support themselves. These services not only improved shelters for 34,000 people but gave information to 116,000 people about disaster preparation. Volunteers ran literacy classes for 60,000 vulnerable women to help them support themselves and their families; additionally, they helped defend 25,000 residents from forced eviction. However, 3.5 years after the earthquake, the nation is still struggling with recovery with hundreds of thousands of people still living in tent camps.

On August 29, 2009, Hurricane Katrina struck the United States Gulf Coast. It was a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the Saffir Simpson Scale. Winds gusted to up to 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane was almost 400 miles wide . The storm itself did a tremendous amount of damage, but the storm’s aftermath was cataclysmic. Many claimed that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the storm. This paper will examine the four elements of disaster management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation – as well as an analysis on the data presented.