What if Haiti's Earthquake Hit the U.S.?

A thought exercise. Now that a month has passed since the Jan. 12 earthquake shook Haiti, as agencies continue to assess the disaster's toll, it's worth considering: What would it look like if Haiti's 7.0 quake had hit the United States instead, inflicting a similar level of damage?

Let's look at the numbers. At this point, according to the United Nations, the quake has killed nearly 3% of Haiti, injured another 4%, and displaced over 6% of the population. Meanwhile, well over 12% of Haitians are still living without shelter, even as the rainy season approaches.

If the U.S. faced a similar catastrophe, it would be as though the entire state of North Carolina -- some 9 million people -- was wiped out. Or if everyone in New Jersey suddenly perished. Gone. Pulled off the map.

All of Pennsylvania would have suffered injuries from the disaster, too. And in the quake's aftermath, the entire population of Florida would have started roaming up the United States' eastern seaboard, homeless and displaced. Meanwhile, on the other side of the coast, over 36 million people -- that is, everyone in California, from Los Angeles to San Francisco -- would be sleeping in makeshift camps without shelter, bracing for the spring's inevitable mud and landslides. (As of February 8, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs would have announced that emergency shelter support had reached only the equivalent of San Diego, and the rest of the state would, not surprisingly, be getting angrier about the fact.)

Meanwhile, relief agencies would be flying in from all over the world, even as sanitation issues remained rife, and all of the displaced Floridians would be having trouble finding toilets to use (much less clean water to drink). The United Nations Development Programme would be trying to hire U.S. citizens who lost their livelihoods in the quake to help in the recovery effort, but so far, those efforts would have reached only Wyoming and Alaska.

I don't mean to devise a purely U.S.-centric idea of the disaster, but as donations continue to taper, the comparison gives at least some sense of what Haiti's up against. Even as "We Are the World" (the revamped, proceeds-going-to-Haiti version) tops the charts, mobile donations make continued news and Beyonce steps out in a "Fashion for Haiti" t-shirt, there's no reason to feel suddenly sanguine. A month after the quake, the immediate headlines may have receded, but the country continues to reel.

(To make the one-month anniversary of the Jan. 12 quake, check out our previous posts on the best ways to give to organizations working in Haiti.)

Photo Credit: marxchivist