How to Improve Earthquake Preparedness in Communities
Discussing earthquake preparedness in communities is honestly a challenging and deep topic to begin with. We need to define what it is like to be prepared. Does being prepared mean before or in the aftermath of the earthquake? There will be different approaches to tackle these two distinct issues. How do you distinguish a community that is prepared and who is not? If so how do you measure the metrics of “preparedness”? What does being prepared mean to each individual? A normal citizen and a firefighter have different responsibilities regarding this issue. If we want to tackle this issue superficially, we could propose to the government to make mandatory earthquake drills in every institution. But are we going to remember all of the drills during the moment? The issue goes deeper than that.
In terms of communities, the risk of an earthquake varies between its geographic location, its infrastructures, and many other factors. To have an optimal solution, we need to specify our audience, we need to conduct in-depth research scientifically on how the area is subject to earthquakes, its terrains, and infrastructures. We need to find out how the locals view earthquakes, their behavior towards them, and so on and so forth. This challenge needed to take in-depth research from multiple disciplines and perspectives.
In order to enhance preparedness in communities such as Haiti would have a different approach compared to Japan, Japan does have a well-built infrastructure and a very well-planned earthquake procedure, while in Haiti, due to its poor economy, almost all of their infrastructure is prone to earthquakes and they don’t have a system to cope with it (Allen, 2011). In Haiti where poverty is rampant, I think it would be far more beneficial at the moment to help them prepare for the aftermath since back in 2010 the aftermath was equally or even more severe compared to its death toll where an estimated 3 million people suffered due to lack of daily necessities such as food and shelter, 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed or severely damaged with an estimate of $7.8– $8.5 billion of damage (Reid, 2023) (RENOIS, 2010) (Reardon, 2021). Even though Japan was damaged economically more, it only accounted for 4% of its country’s GDP during its 9.0 magnitude earthquake in 2011, meanwhile, Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake affected more than 70% of its GDP (Mutter, 2012).
I believe that experts out there do have a better solution on this matter according to their own expertise, however, my answer to this challenge is how can we think deeper and more critically about this issue. Honestly, I don’t have the right answer and no one does right away, it would be very naïve if I could have a solution regarding this monumental issue with limited research, time, and manpower. At the end of the day, we need to collaborate and challenge each other in order to find an objective and optimal solution.
Bibliography
Mutter, J. C. (2012, March 5). Voices: From Haiti to Japan: A tale of two disaster recoveries . Retrieved from earth magazine: https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voices-haiti-japan-tale-two-disaster-recoveries/#:~:text=Firstly%2C%20the%20geology%20of%20the,a%20major%20strike%2Dslip%20fault.
Allen, R. (2011, March 12). The essential lesson from the Japan earthquake for the U.S. . Retrieved from Scientific American: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-essential-lesson-from-the-japan-earthquake-for-the-u-s/
Haitians angry over slow aid . (2010, February 5). Retrieved from The Age: https://web.archive.org/web/20100207005409/http://www.theage.com.au/world/haitians-angry-over-slow-aid-20100204-ng2g.html
RENOIS, C. (2010, February 5). The Age. Retrieved from Haitians angry over slow aid : https://web.archive.org/web/20100207005409/http://www.theage.com.au/world/haitians-angry-over-slow-aid-20100204-ng2g.html
Reid, K. (2023, March 23). Haiti earthquake: Facts, FAQs, and how to help . Retrieved from World Vision: https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2010-haiti-earthquake-facts#:~:text=With%20approximately%203%20million%20people,and%20300%2C000%20people%20were%20injured.
Reardon, S. (2021, August 19). The True Haiti Earthquake Death Toll Is Much Worse Than Early Official Counts . Retrieved from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-true-haiti-earthquake-death-toll-is-much-worse-than-early-official-counts/
