Social Impacts of the 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake

The 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake resulted in some of the most significant social impacts from an earthquake in recent decades. In early March, an Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) social impacts reconnaissance team documented broad impacts on shelter, livelihood opportunities, and service provision through direct observation, photo documentation, interviews, and a review of other sources. The earthquake left over half of the residential housing in Port-au-Prince heavily damaged; widespread fear that even undamaged structures were unsafe swelled the number of homeless to 1.3 million. The infrastructure damage and significant loss of life within the Haitian government and international aid agencies slowed the early response and reduced the already low levels of basic service provision. Continued research is needed on media portrayal, outcomes of injuries, sheltering decisions, social networks, and learning trajectories for Haiti's youth, among other areas.