Haiti Earthquake Facts and Figures

IMpact of the 12 January earthquake 7.0 Magnitude Quake struck near Port au Prince 3,500,000 people were affected by the quake 220,000 people estimated to have died 300,000+ people were injured Over 188,383 houses were badly damaged and 105,000 were destroyed by the earthquake (293,383 in total), 1.5m people became homeless After the quake there were 19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris in Port au Prince – enough to fill a line of shipping containers stretching end to end from London to Beirut. 4,000 schools were damaged or destroyed 25% of civil servants in Port au Prince died 60% of Government and administrative buildings, 80% of schools in Port-au-Prince and 60% of schools in the South and West Departments were destroyed or damaged Over 600,000 people left their home area in Port-au-Prince and mostly stayed with host families At its peak, one and a half million people were living in camps including over 100,000 at critical risk from storms and flooding Unrelated to the earthquake but causing aid response challenges was the outbreak of cholera in October 2010. By July 2011 5,899 had died as a result of the outbreak, and 216,000 were infected

Twitter Helps in Haiti Quake Coverage, Aid

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Twitter has proven to be an important tool for fundraising and relief efforts to help the disaster’s victims.

According to Twitter.com, five of the most popular topics posted Thursday on the mini-blogging site were related to Haiti, where the death toll from a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck on Tuesday might have surpassed 100,000.

First satellite map of Haiti earthquake A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on 12 January, causing major casualties and damage. The quake was followed by several aftershocks with magnitudes over 5.0.

Such a powerful earthquake can make current maps suddenly out of date, causing additional challenges to rescue workers on the ground. Earth observation satellite images can help rescue efforts by providing updated views of how the landscape and the infrastructure have been affected.

Social Media & the Haiti Disaster: Thumbs Up for Twitter

Speaking of the many requests she received via Twitter for help with specific situations in Haiti in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake there, Curry added:

Social media illustrates devastation in Haiti in real time

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department has joined the social-media movement and for the first time is reading Twitter posts, blogs and Internet forums to learn instantly about conditions in Haiti and send alerts to government agencies in the country. The department's Haiti Social Media Disaster Monitoring Initiative is designed to get information more quickly to people involved in recovery efforts by tracking up to 60 Internet sites including Google Blog Search, The Huffington Post and Twitter, according to a department report.

Twitter data accurately tracked Haiti cholera outbreak

The informal information source, Twitter, was yielding data that would have been a quicker way of detecting and tracking the deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti than traditional methods, according to a study. The study found that online social media and news feeds were faster than, and broadly as accurate as, the official records at detecting the start and early progress of the epidemic, which hit Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010 and has killed more than 6,500 people.

Twitter and Facebook users respond to Haiti crisis

An appeal to help victims of the Haiti earthquake is breaking all records, fuelled by the power of social media.Type "Haiti" into Twitter, Facebook or Youtube and you soon encounter a message from @redcross sent at 05:38 GMT on Jan 13. In less than 48 hours, the American Red Cross had received more than $35m in donations - including $8m directly from texts. "This breaks all world records for a mobile giving campaign," says their spokeswoman, Gloria Huang. "It's been incredible. People have donated more to Haiti than to Hurricane Katrina or the tsunami in Asia. "And Twitter has played an extremely significant part."

Social Media was the first to tell the story Despite being the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti’s Internet connected devices were key implements in telling the rest of the globe about the emerging crisis. Twitter Twitter was a key tool for distributing images and information from Haiti — just as it has been in a number of other crises across the globe. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that images sent via Twitpic and other Twitter-based photo services were hitting the Internet long before news agencies produced anything similar. And as Haitian officials were giving their reports on what happened, eyewitness accounts from Haitians in messages of 140 characters or less were already widespread. People were given further insight when the Los Angeles Times published a list of Twitter users believed to be tweeting from Haiti.

Social Media Gets First Haiti Earthquake Pictures

Once again, social media has provided information on a huge breaking story before the news networks are able to provide full coverage. The Haiti earthquake has made news but if you’ve been looking for photos of the destruction, you needed to be hanging out on social media to find them. Within a few hours of the earthquake, photos were appearing on TwitPic, uploaded by those who were in Haiti during the earthquake.

Social media has proven time and again to be faster than the news and search engines, from Michael Jackson’s death to the Haiti earthquake and while it might not be quite as reliable as CNN, social networks are now what people are starting to look to for the latest in breaking news.

Social Media Coverage of the Haiti Earthquake

Social media key in Haiti earthquake coverage Technology played a key role in early coverage of the earthquake in Haiti.

With telephone service toppled due to the earthquake, those on the ground turned to Skype to speak with the media, aid organizations, or to communicate with loved ones overseas. A Connecticut-based missionary organization that works in Haiti used Skype to communicate with their people there to get a sense of the devastation…. What’s not clear, however, is whether Haitians are using these technologies to communicate and help each other. From what I’ve seen so far, the use of tools like Twitter and Facebook are more helpful for delivering news about Haiti to the outside world instead of aiding those directly affected by the crisis–a recurring theme that we’ve already seen play out in places like Iran and India.

How Social Networks and Mobile Tech Helped in Haiti

Social Media Aid the Haiti Relief Effort

GTS Exhibits Geospatial Photo Technology Used in Haiti at the 2012 International Disaster Conference and Expo

In Haiti earthquake coverage, social media gives victim a voice

While the long-term effects of television viewing in the early years are often up for debate, pediatricians and researchers can agree that young children who watch television need supervision and guidelines for the amount of television to which they are exposed and the types of shows they can access. Young children are constantly in the process of developing their ability to understand information and make sense of what is real and what is pretend. Exposing children to developmentally inappropriate information and images on television can leave them feeling confused, frightened or upset. This is why choosing appropriate television shows for your children is a critical element of their development. The good news is, watching developmentally appropriate programming with your children can have many positive benefits (bonding between caregiver and child, the introduction of new vocabulary words, exploring new places together, etc.). Thankfully, there are lots of exceptional television shows for young children that are fun and engaging and that can help children build their early literacy skills along the way.

Educational Television and Literacy Copyright Microsoft Clipart Reading and pre-reading skills are significant predictors of academic achievement for students entering elementary skills. As a result, the literacy-related skills a child develops during the preschool age create the foundation for long term educational success. Considering the amount of media consumed by contemporary children, it is necessary to consider the effects of media on early literacy skills. Does media help or harm a child’s ability to learn to read? Should parents of preschool children be exposing their children to certain forms and content? The news articles below present attempts by educational television producers to assist in developing young children’s literacy skills. The research articles below consider the effects of both educational and entertainment media on preschool age children’s pre-reading and reading abilities.

Over 150 kindergarten and first-grade students took part in a study about the educational television series "Between the Lions." Researchers wanted to see if watching the show would help them learn to read. Some of the students were assigned to watch the show for a few weeks and others did not watch the show. The researchers found that everyone who watched the program showed improvements in being able to name letters and read fluently. © Center on Media and Child Health

Researchers reviewed 85 research articles on television, language development, and children under 5 years old. The research has not shown any definitive effects on children under 2, but studies have shown that watching age-appropriate, high-quality educational programming is beneficial for children ages 2-5. These shows can help them learn vocabulary, learn letters, and help them better understand stories.

rogramming that encourages parents to interact with their children and the televisio