Comparative analysis of emergency response operations Haiti earthquake in January 2010 and Pakistan's flood in 2010

Abstract

This study explores HA/DR operations and the associated response of the international community during the recent earthquake in Haiti and flood in Pakistan in 2010. A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.0 hit Haiti on January 12, causing great damage and mass casualties. The international community responded swiftly and took over relief efforts in the country saving a lot of lives. Handsome donations were also given and committed. Pakistan suffered heavy floods that started in the end of July 2010 and affected nearly the entire country. Loss of life was not very great, but infrastructure damage and people subsequently affected surpassed the combined total of the 2004 Tsunami, Haiti earthquake and 2005 South Asia earthquake. During this disaster the international community, particularly volunteer technologists, were not mobilized the way they were in Haiti. Donations were made late and comparatively slow. No single country can handle a large-scale natural disaster like the two exemplar cases chosen for this thesis, and hence the role of the international community is very important. Such response has not been equitable in the past and it is the goal of this research to find ways to make it more equitable in the future.