Haiti: Mass Wasting

What is mass wasting? More commonly known as its less technical term landslides; it is the downslope movement of earths materials. It is often a rapid movement of soil or rock in a coherent mass, such as a rockfall or avalanche. This happens as a natural phenomena, normally due to gravity and possibly the combination of some sort of triggering event such as an earthquake. Human activity also can cause the rate of landslides to increase, ranging from urbanization to simply natural resource use. Timber harvesting is among one of the many reasons associated with landslide erosion. In 2010, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti and caused landslides throughout most of the country. The United States Geological Survey compared satellite imagery from before and after the earthquake, and were able to map 23,567 different landslides that occurred that day. The earthquake was the triggering event, but the human activity could have also been to blame for that ridiculous number. For a long time, Haitians have burnt trees for fuel, charcoal is responsible for almost 75% of its domestic fuel. This has led to widespread deforestation around the entire country, so bad in fact that it is the one of the most deforested countries in the world. This makes the area high risk for landslides and flooding. I wish there was some sort of system in place that the country was implementing to prevent or at least warn citizens about this threat that looms over them, but eight years after this quake, I haven't been able to find evidence of that happening in this country.

Sources:
USGS Map of landslides triggered by the 2010 earthquake

Deforestation Heighten Landslide Risk - National Geographic