Mass Hysteria After an Earthquake
Devina Gallegos
SECTA
Mass Hysteria After an Earthquake In 2010 a major earthquake of a high magnitude hit the country of Haiti. The earthquake hit near the town of Leogane not too far from Haiti’s capital. The earthquake was one of the highest ever recorded. It was catastrophic and put the country in ruins by destroying millions of homes, buildings, and roads. After the quake the country was going through a case of mass hysteria. The quake in Haiti had a high magnitude of 7.0 one of the highest ever recorded. The earthquake hit near the town of Leogane about 16 miles southwest from Haiti’s capital Port-au-
Prince. The quake hit at 4:53 PM, with aftershocks that came soon after. Then there
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People began to behave in intense and abnormal ways due their stress and fear. Many of the behaviors seen included, looting, screaming, crowding, and crying. Looting became an aggressive act as people began to rob each others food, water, and medical supplies, which were limited during that time. The acts of screaming and crying were mainly shown after people saw friends and family succumb to their injuries or as structures continued to fall apart even after the shaking. Crowding also became an intense behavior as people rushed to vehicles and relief organizations who were bringing in more food, medical supplies, and water. People were running and yelling as they became desperate help. According to a BBC article, Rachmani Domersant an operations manager of the Food for the Poor charity said, “You have thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go. There are people running, crying, screaming” (2010). Mass hysteria created the intense acts and behaviors seen by people after the earthquake. There are many short term effects that occur after an earthquake. Short term effects may be difficult to overcome, but only last for awhile. After an earthquake there is violent damage to buildings, homes, and roads. The destroyed structures will have to be reconstructed in order to rebuild the town. Another short term effect would be the lack of supplies, food, and water. As time passes more food, water, and medical supplies will be provided since organizations are given time to regroup and create plans. These effects are considered short term because they will only last a short period of
But people have similar and different views and opinions on this earthquake, and that is seen “Comprehending the Calamity” by Emma Burke and in Fred Hewitt’s “Horrific Wreck of the City”. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake struck a little after five in the morning. The earthquake, at a magnitude of 7.8, shook and destroyed buildings. At least 250,000 people were homeless, and many camped out in a park. But that wasn't all.
Statement of the Problem Among the events that have had a drastic shaping on human events throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are natural disasters. Often times, a natural disaster will leave residents of affected areas in a state of awe as they seek to understand what exactly happened. One such example is Hurricane Hugo.
In the aftermath of the earthquake and fire over 250,000 people--more than half of San Francisco's population--became homeless. Refugee camps sprang up around the city. Hospitals were filled with the injured, many of whom did not survive. After the shockwaves ceased and the last flame was extinguished, San Franciscans banded together to rebuild
In 1906, an earthquake hit San Francisco, California. More than 3,000 people died. The earthquake that hit San Francisco was one of the largest earthquakes in northern California. It struck the coast of Northern California. "Horrific Wreck of the City" by Fred Hewitt and “Comprehending the Calamity:” by Emma Burke are both about the same thing but the two authors opinion on how this disaster affected people are completely different.
At around 8:14 a Major aftershock hit making even more damaged building collapse. The earthquake and fires in San Francisco were recorded to be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. At the time San francisco was considered the ninth largest U.S city with a population of 400,000 after this
How the Science of earthquakes was started in North America after the California Earthquake of 1906 The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 is one of the most significant earth quakes of all time. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake ruptured the northernmost 477 kilometers of the San Andreas Fault from the northwest of San Juan Bautista to the triple Junction of Cape Mendocino. The earthquake caused severe damage with reports indicating that it caused more than 3,000 deaths and destroyed more than 28,000 buildings (Borcherdt, & Gibbs, 1976).
Natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes sometimes cause extreme environments to change, in spite of the fact that most extreme environments have always been this way. In addition to the aforementioned extreme environments, poverty and natural disturbances, can also qualify as extreme environments. Extreme conditions are especially deadly and leave residents vulnerable to the derogatory effects of residing in them. These ideas are very prevalent in the article “In their Own Words: Resilience among Haitian Survivors of the 2010 Earthquake” as they experienced trauma from the earthquake that occurred in 2010. In the article “In their own words: Resilience among Haitian Survivors of the 2010 Earthquake '' by Guitele J. Rahill et al.
Natural disasters are unfortunate events that cause damage to the surrounding environment and its inhabitants. These events can be disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. In the article, “In Their Own Words: Resilience among Haitian Survivors of the 2010 Earthquake”, it was stated that resilience after these natural disasters is “...‘acceptance of conditions,’ as solidarity demonstrated by ‘Haitians helping Haitians’” (581). To overcome the disasters, the inhabitants of the affected area must connect as a community. It is imperative for the survival of the affected people that this is done because the connections help the people to push through the aftermath of the disaster.
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 will never be forgotten of its devastating power and destruction. This earthquake was something never seen before and at the time could only be imagined. It was unexpected and terrifying at the 5:12 am, the first round started, The damage from the earthquake was terrible, only the most powerful force could cause the damage done to the city, and the people. The cost to repair everything was $400,000,000 at the time, which works out to around $8.2 billion today.
Thousands were greatly attempting to rebuild. (Doc A) During this, people reacted during the aftermath of the natural disaster by collecting and conserving resources, gathering help from the Red Cross and providing evacuation centers. After the earthquake, people reacted by collecting and conserving as many resources as they possibly could. People were building tents with tarpaulins.
Conditions for the small country worsened as a devastating earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, and over 300,000 people were killed, and 1.5 million were displaced, leaving them homeless. Just months after the earthquake hit, Haiti experienced the worst cholera outbreak in recent history, killing thousands, and infecting more than 6% of the population (Cook). Despite efforts from humanitarians and charities around the world, things never seemed to get better as access to clean drinking water and safe shelter became scarce. As the environment became virtually uninhabitable, many Haitians came to the United States, seeking asylum, and an opportunity to better the lives for themselves and their
After the Haiti earthquake of 2010 many lives were destroyed. The people were suffering from loss of loved ones as well as loss of property and possessions. “More than 220,000 were killed in the January 12, magnitude-7 quake, and an estimated 2 million people are living in temporary shelter in Port-au-Prince…The earthquake caused an estimated $7 billion in damage.” Haitians were suffering and in need of assistance.
On January 10, 2010, Haiti experienced one of the strongest earthquakes to date. At a 7.0-magnitude, the earthquake took as many as one hundred thousand lives and destroyed countless homes throughout Haiti. "Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel" by Leonard Pitts, wrote an article that described the tragedy that struck the Haitian community and how they were able to weather through it all. Pitts uses personifications, metaphors, and anaphoras to establish that despite all the cruelties of earth, people can overcome anything.
The earthquake of 2010 was a 7.0 on the Richter Scale. This large earthquake caused the death of 230,000 people. This was due to poor building structure and little warning. There were too many bodies to move and so few people who were capable of moving them (due to injuries) that the bodies would just be piled up on roads and in city squares. As a result of the earthquake, a total of 10,000 children were left orphaned.
Haiti, a sovereign state located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, is one of the world 's poorest and least developed countries. Same to other developing countries, Haiti developed agriculture instead of industry. Furthermore, Haiti is a country which always happened flooding, droughts, hurricanes and other meteorological disasters that were mainly caused by climate change. These disasters did affect Haiti a lot in the aspect of economy change, diseases like malaria or cholera caused by tropical Cyclone hotspots and vulnerability and adaptive capability of this country. First of all, hurricanes and droughts caused by climate change produced a very big effect on economy of Haiti.