A Comparative Case Study on the Economic Disruption of Earthquakes: A Look into New Zealand, Haiti, and Guatemala
Description
The January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake, which hit Port-au-Prince in the late afternoon, was the cause of over 220,000 deaths and $8 billion in damages \u2014 roughly 120% of national GDP at the time. A Mw 7.5 earthquake struck rural Guatemala in the early morning in 1976 and caused 23,000-25,000 deaths, three times as many injuries, and roughly $1.1 billion in damages, which accounted for approximately 30% of Guatemala's GDP. The earthquake which hit just outside of Christchurch, New Zealand early in the morning on September 4, 2010 had a magnitude of 7.1 and caused just two injuries, no deaths, and roughly 7.2 billion USD in damages (5% of GDP). These three earthquakes, all with magnitudes over 7 on the Richter scale, caused extremely varied amounts of economic damage for these three countries. This thesis aims to identify a possible explanation as to why this was the case and suggest ways in which to improve disaster risk management going forward.
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2016-05
Agent
- Author (aut): Heuermann, Jamie Lynne
- Thesis director: Schoellman, Todd
- Committee member: Mendez, Jose
- Contributor (ctb): Department of Supply Chain Management
- Contributor (ctb): Department of Economics
- Contributor (ctb): W. P. Carey School of Business
- Contributor (ctb): Barrett, The Honors College