On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Republic of Haiti, a Caribbean island located at 18.9°N, 72.3°W , 3,170 km east of Mexico. It struck 15-25 km west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, at 4:53 p.m. local time. Occurring just 9.98 km below the surface, its effects were devastating, affecting 3 million people. The Inter-American Development Bank has estimated that this amount could reach $13.9 billion over time. This made it the costliest seismic event in terms of a percentage of a country's gross domestic product, costing approximately 100 to 200 percent of Haiti's GDP. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Haiti has a limited history of earthquakes. The only notable earthquake that Haiti suffered before 2010 was the 8.1 magnitude earthquake in 1946. Its epicenter was located in the Dominican Republic and the tremors extended to Haiti. The earthquake was caused by the movement of the transformed boundary between the Caribbean and North American tectonics. plates. When the two plates slid in an east-west direction in what is called a strike-slip boundary, this type of tectonic movement caused a buildup of movement along areas of the boundary. The pressure was eventually released and the sudden movement of the plates caused tremors along the Earth's crust. The fault system that ruptured to cause the Haiti earthquake is known as the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. Around 200,000 dead and 300,000 injured. Between 11.5 billion AUD and 12.5 billion AUD in damage, perhaps 20.46 billion AUD in the long term. Emergency responses generated large quantities of medical waste that accumulated in hospitals and medical treatment centers. 1.3 million citizens left homeless, due to damaged infrastructure. GDP decreased by 5.1%. Population displacement (greater population density in regions further from the epicenter of the earthquake) has strained local resources. It brought international attention to the already struggling island and inspired many large donations, made mostly by credit cards, most of which companies waived interchange fees. (including Capital One, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover). Job crisis worsened in Haiti, where already 70% of people were unemployed. The unemployed also seek and receive free services that disrupt the local market. Water contaminated by disease, chemicals, oil and rubble. Before the disaster, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. With a poor socio-economic situation and a limited history of large earthquakes, the citizens of Haiti were vulnerable to the earthquake. Low exports and poor economic performance led to the state of poverty in which Haiti found itself. The lack of an enforced building code resulted in many poorly constructed multi-story buildings, many of which collapsed. Its weak economy led to poor living standards and a poor education system, which amplified the damage caused by the disaster. Environmental degradation has further deteriorated the state of the country. Due to the low income of the island's citizens, many have found the trees as a source of cooking fuel. This intensive logging has led to the shrinking of forests, which now cover less than 3% of Haitian territory. This deterioration of the natural environment and.