Risk Management Plan for Haiti Earthquake

This paper provides a brief idea of the risk management plan for the Haiti Earthquake. It includes the project overview, applying risk management process, stakeholder analysis, societal benefits, and risk assessment process.

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Haiti Earthquake
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Executive Summary
Hazard administration lies at the crossing point of undertaking capacities performed by
the frameworks design and the venture supervisor. Generally, peril organization focused more on
organization parts, for instance, schedule and cost, and less on particular threats for all around
described or humbler assignments. In any case, bigger and more mind boggling undertakings and
conditions have expanded the vulnerability for the specialized parts of numerous tasks. To
enhance the likelihood of productive wander and program results, the systems authority and
assignment chief must be successfully connected with all parts of hazard organization.
A generous collection of information has created around chance administration. All in all,
hazard administration incorporates improvement of a hazard administration approach and plan,
recognizable proof of parts of the hazard administration process, and direction on exercises,
compelling practices, and devices for executing every segment. This paper gives a brief idea of
the risk management plan for the Haiti Earthquake. The earthquake occurred at 4:53 PM 12th
January 2010 25km southwest of the Haitian capital. Most of the residents witnessed their worlds
being overturned upside down as they lost their homes, friends and more so the family members.
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Introduction
The Disaster was caused by an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.9 affected the country
of Haiti. The country got its independence back in the 1804 and was the first state that was
governed by the African descent people and was the second in the western hemisphere to
achieve independence. With a population of 10.8 million people (Joseph, M and Wang, F.,
2010), it’s the populous country in the Caribbean community covering a total of 27,750
square kilometers.
All through the history of the state, it has been plagued by most natural disasters, poverty,
political instability and the racial discord. (Brun 2018) explains the political instability in
relation to the Post disaster response. With all this ricks that do occur there is need to analyze
the risk management as a factor of concern to the people of Haiti and the general public at
large. To evade from all this risk, most of the operations should be well managed. Though at
some points, the conditions may exceed the irrevocable tipping point.
The devastating earthquake was not unusual to the residents since the same forces that
caused is the normal force that causes earthquake in any other place of the world though its
magnitude was so strong. Generally, earthquakes occur along the pieces of the earth’s plates
when in motion. As more stress is exerted along the boundaries, faulty parts stick together
and when the stress is suddenly released, a strong movement causing the two sides to rupture
generates and earthquake.
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With the high magnitude strength, it created a huge billion-dollar damage ranging
between 7.8 to 8.5 billion dollars. The most affected areas being the ports, and all the paved
roads. Over 60 percent of the government buildings in the city majorly targeting 80 percent
of the schools and the civil servants killed over 25 percent crippling the government effort’s
in restoring the situation, (Oh, Kwon & Rao 2010).
1.1 Project Overview
The main concern of the repercussions of this mishap is how it influenced the zones
resulting to a massive loss of lives rendering it to be the most destructive of all the ages. A brief
summary of the primary effects is that it killed 230,000 people and the ground shaking destroyed
180,000 homes in the capital Port-au-Prince. As a result of the misplacement, those misplaced
were forced to live in camps which brought about congestion hence creating a risky situation
whereby most lives were claimed by the cholera especially the children and this called for a
respond by the authority (Walton & lvers 2011). Upon learning the weakness and the dangers the
people were exposed, the rescue teams and the trained medics were flown to the areas plus the
sniffer dogs to help isolate those people affected by the damage caused. The government in its
trials to safe the people, is forced to take a great part in providing food, safe water for drinking
and other the temporary shelters (Emmanuel et al. 2008). Another way the government helped
the people as a way of managing the risk was through the inspecting and repairing of the
damaged buildings.
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1.2 Applying Risk Management Process
The Haiti earthquake occurred at a time when the country had no preparation at all. The
effect fetch was not because the place could be said its prone but building structures and the
other infrastructure was not in any order at all, (Lu, Bengtsson & Holme 2012). Though as a
country, it struggled to see to it that its members could get better living standards, still there were
no regulations that could govern the building structures as compared to other countries. The
government should be able to understand that most of the effect felt as a result was because there
were no permanent building bearing the fact that most of the buildings were built on cheap
materials and its quality was very poor hence allowing the earthquake an easy move in
destroying the structures.
The Haiti effect was greatly felt by many and this allowed many foreign countries to aid from
the disaster. The charity and the well wishes were quick to respond to the country following its
location in the Caribbean edges where they couldn’t easily help themselves out, (Hayes et al.
2010).
Establishing Context
The main concerns of any risk management is to identify the sources if the risk, check the
priorities and established integrated plan of eliminating sources of risk (Reason 2016). It
provides framework for checking and analyzing what activities are to be undertaken and at what
level. Once the scope of the risk management has been set and the associated risk being assessed
have been categorized. Once these versions have been set aside, the Haiti government should be
able to subdivide the risk to either as external or internal.
2.1 External Context
The Haiti earthquake was a very huge disaster and it really required an early preparation. The
government must have learnt from the effects and this could easily allow them make some
changes in the ruling concerning disaster management. The losses incurred could not be tolerated
and it should never again be witnessed, (Calais et al. 2010).
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 The effects on the environment at the parts of Port-au-Prince
 The effects on the residents living around the place of massive attack
 The other countries and the stakeholders that took part in aiding in solution provision.
 Effects on the natural environment, water and soil which later on caused the spread of
cancer which claimed the lives of most of the people.
 The expenditures incurred at the time of rescue by the government.
2.2 Internal Context
This category falls under the parameters within the country. They play an important role in
providing the information regarding the government; for instance, the audits and their plans is
given below:
 Vendors
 The design and architectural department of the government of Haiti.
 Cost incurred in running the rescue
 The health of the residents
 Operation cost to be incurred in rebuilding the nation.
 The probability of other natural disaster to happen.
 Insecurity, that is poverty, lack of livelihood opportunities.
 High population density.
2.3 Risk Management Context
Risk management plan is entitled with a main objective of reducing the risk occurrence and
the impacts it brings to the environment. Through this, all the stakeholders within the risk
management project get informed of the risks that are likely to be involved and their respective
control measures available to mitigate them all in order for every stakeholder to be in a position
to identify and act to a risk accordingly, (Bilham 2010).
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Of importance for the Haiti government is to have a well-managed risk management plan
since its location at the Caribbean edged makes it more prone to the earthquakes which risk the
lives of many residents and the entire nation if not well handled by the management team.
Ignoring the risk may lead to massive damage not only to the government of Haiti but also to the
entire continent since from the records the Haiti government along cannot meet the cost of
recovering given the fact that the country is still in a poor state (Pyles et al. 2018 ).
2.4 Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder are classified into two, either internal or external based on the level of decision
they provide as solutions. The risk management team should clearly analyze the stakeholder’s
type before involving them in the development of the planning process. Based on their decision,
stakeholder is able to tell which of the risk incurred should be given more importance and to
what extend are others considered negligible. In this case, the stakeholder for the Haiti
government were:
Internal External
Government officials World Vision
Shareholders Japanese government
Residents Media
Health officers UNESCO world heritage center
2.5 Societal Benefits
The Haiti earthquake emerged to be the most destructive disaster ever on the Haiti government to
the residence and the entire nation at large. The main societal benefit of the earthquake is that
due to the occurrence of the incident, most of the destruction to the buildings and the area was so
much far beyond control such that most residents who survived the death were forced to migrate
to some other secure places set aside by the government as the camp sites. On these living areas,
the conditions were not that favorable in that it lead to emergence of cholera which further
caused death among the young children. Land, soil and the surrounding water bodies were all
contaminated to the extent of harmful chemical being found in the living area (Dennis 2015).
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The Haiti earthquake proved to be the worst humanitarian crisis ever, the fact that it
killed many people was facilitated by the act that the disaster hit the most important agencies in
the nation who were actually required to deal with the disaster. Having destroyed the pillar of
support, the solution to the earthquake were hard to be easily realized since it was only left for
the rescuers from abroad. The factor that spread the effects felt was the loosely soil the building
were laid on, the foundation could easily be shaken leading to a collapse, this called for a
conservation for the soil and water (Kennedy et al. 2016). The low building standards and the
shallow-sourced earthquake could not provide time for the residents to get out of the buildings.
The hazardous events occurring can alter both the social and the physical surrounding in
a manner in which communities are impacted. The most recent effect socially is the loss of life,
injuries and the destruction to the natural and built environments. From the data collection plans,
the photo documentation team really gotten some social benefit from the incident. Those people
leaving in the lowly developed centers were later on migrated to some other better places hence
improving their living standards. This as a result raised the standards. The migration out of the
metropolitan region helped reduce the congestion that was felt in the area together with the
transport sector. The earthquake opened up the minds of the people living in the rural areas.
After the occasion of the urban migrants. The people were later on force to move to the urban
center in search of better education for their schooling children and good jobs.
Risk Assessment Process
The risk assessment process of the Haiti earthquake will include the analysis of the
involved risks, its evaluation and the treatment methods for the risks with many other control
measures in place as per the safety measure of the system in a practical manner (Bahr 2014).
Dealing with the natural disasters is extremely difficult to fully curb the effects but the Haiti
government is forced to take risk on how well it can manage them. The recovery from the effects
felt from the incident is very demanding such that it requires more and more capital while the
Haiti government can’t actually meet them.
The major reason why the Haiti earthquake occurred was because of the loosely build
houses. According to (Birham 2010 p. 778), several lessons can be derived from the happenings
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of the earthquake. The government failed much on the infrastructure arrangement. The risk
incurred should be constantly review and any change in the weather should also be much
monitored by the personnel involved regularly to prevent any kind of accident of the same sort
from happening, this will include to seismic monitoring (Bent et al 2018).
Even though the Haiti government had prepared itself from the accident caused by the
earthquake, by acquiring assistance from the U.N offices, the Haiti government is in a better
position of restoring lives and destroyed structure.
4.1 Risk Identification
As a proper way of managing a risk, identification is of much importance since before
any action is being taken, there is need to first of all identify what exactly is being addressed.
This bring up the overview in form of a model as seen by (Haimes 2015). Through identification
we get to know what we are supposed to handle within a given time and the potential dangers
that might arise through the process. From the Haiti’s experience a checklist is of importance in
order to find the best out of the current available resources.
Checklist
# Risk Checklist items Y/N
Did the country had some emergency procedure in case of a
natural disaster?
Was there a government regulation governing the
construction of the structures?
What was the relationship between the country and other
abroad countries?
Within the government apartments was there personal
protection equipment against a natural disaster?
Did the country had relevant documentation regarding the
occurrence of calamity? If any was there constant updates?
Did the government and relevant land owners had a
working insurance plan?
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4.2 Risk Analysis
After the identification of the risk, analysis should come in, the analysis process should
indeed be reliable (Modarres et al 2016). Through analysis we will be able to tell the likelihood
of similar or any other risk occurring. From the impacts of the earthquake, it has helped to bring
forth the concepts of risk reduction. The actors involved in the management has also given Haiti
task of implementing the stated possible causes and remedies to the risks. The damages caused
was over 120 per cent of the country’s GDP taking it back a couple of decades and this led to
arriving back to the drawing board in risk analysis. The matrix of analysis will be of much great
importance in arriving at the solutions.
Likelihood Severity
E
Insignificant
D
Minor
C
Moderate
B
Major
A
Catastrophic
1
Certain
H H E E E
2
Almost
certain
M H H E E
3
Moderate
L M H H E
4
Unlikely
L L M H H
5
Rare
L L L M H
From the above table:
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[E] Extreme Risk- both the likelihood and the severity is very high for a given risk and incase it
begins, its progresses and becomes a worst situation.
[H] High Risk- remedies can be applied along the progress in order to take control of the
likelihood and the severity of the risk.
[M] Medium Risk- lower risk that can be tolerated to the extent and actions are required though
at a later stage a remedy is need later on.
[L] Low Risk- low severity and likelihood of the risk and requires no major action and in most
cases its tolerable and insignificant.
4.3 Risk Evaluation
Once the risk has been analyzed, different classifications need to be obtained in order to
deal with each individual in its own manner based on the priority of the risk and their testing
approaches (Felderer et al. 2018). For the as low as reasonably practicable principle being in
use, combining it with the FMEA analysis allows the analyst to classify all the risk in an order
from the one with a high priority to the lowest in order to reduce the risk within the country
based on the overall basis regardless of the calamity.
Risk
Risk are analyzed from the highest downwards to the least acceptable. The factors that lead to
the massive destruction was the:
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 Poorly constructed buildings.
 Loose soils
 Natural disaster
Even though the main cause was the ground drifting, it was facilitated by the populate
zone especially the capital city. The situation could have been better off handled if there was
a proper housing management regulations. The risk management planning team failed since
it was difficult to exercise the best of all having the fact that most of the government houses
were all destroyed. Including the airport which could be a source of help from the external
countries.
4.4 Risk Treatment
Risk treatment marks the final process in the risk management plan. It’s a point where all
the considered control measures are analyzed, compared and then a final recommendation is
made in order to reduce the overall level of risks. For the Haiti, the earthquake though very much
immense and with huge damages (Taski et al 2011), the overall occurrences could be reduced
and a great lesson be extracted from the experience. For a proper approach to the treatment of the
risk, the Haiti government should be able to manage information and foster coordination.
Creation of laws that govern the management process marks an important move in the treatment
process. With the huge populations, the Haiti government is far much affected by the sanitation
and water problems (Philippe & Culotd 2009). The process risk management team should first
start by solving this problem.
5. Findings and Discussion
Monitoring and reviewing comes in play once all the other analysis and the planning
processes have been brought to an end. According to (Aven 2016 pp.1-13) recent advances on a
risk foundation should be assessed to clearly know what are the progresses. Through monitoring,
the stakeholders will be able to know if all the planned control measures are of any importance
or not. Accomplishing the task of proper management of the risks, the stakeholder is required to
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have a constant monitoring of the control measures put in place in order to check if there is any
feedback, (Muralidharan et al. 2011). In case of a positive feedback, then the management team
is able to tell that really the action has been acceptable but if otherwise, then there is need to
change the action imposed and a different corrective measure is taken if either repairing or taking
a new alternative.
Making the success of the risk management process, the following activities needs to be
taken into considerations, (Caragea et al. 2011):
 The stakeholders are to gather existing data about the fault lines within the Haiti
Caribbean borders.
 Coordinate their efforts to map the soil types.
 Installing seismic stations in the country and more personnel be taught on the uses.
 Improve regulations concerning the buildings.
 Create awareness of the hurricanes season for all the residents and especially the
displaced.
 From the fact that poverty is the most factor dragging people behind (Frankema & Mase
2014), the government to come up with policies that will actively provide employment to
the youths and various training centers.
 Creating a social safety plan for the whole nation.
 Any recovery action being taken should include all the environmental factors.
 Strengthening government authority.
 Providing assistance to the affected population.
 Carrying out constant audit both internal and external foe the purpose of maintaining and
checking the safety standards.
The government should take this opportunity caused by the disaster to help migrate other
people as a way of decentralizing the population
5.1 Conclusion
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Economic, social and the political life of a country is much affected by any slight
destruction. Haiti for this case, faced with the enormous earthquake was struck by heavy
destruction. This natural disaster not only caused an ending damage but later on exposed the
country to other threats for instance, the outbreak of cholera which further killed thousands of
people. The lethal reputation brought about by the earthquake was also associated with other
secondary effects including food shortage, political violence and the illness (Lusk & Andre
2017).
From the review, the main factors contributing to Haiti being highly susceptible to
earthquakes are:
 Poor construction and building materials
 Poverty
 Lack of awareness
 Lack of proper planning and regulations.
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