Evidence for higher tropical storm risks in Haiti due to increasing population density in hazard prone urban areas

Abstract

Since the 18th century, the Republic of Haiti has experienced numerous tropical cyclones. In 2011, the United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction outlined that the worldwide physical exposure to natural hazards, which includes tropical storms and hurricanes in Haiti, increased by 192 per cent between 1970 and 2010. Now, it can be hypothesized that the increased physical exposure to cyclones that made landfall in Haiti has affected the country's development path. This study shows that tropical storm risks in Haiti increased due to more physical exposure of the population in urban areas rather than a higher cyclone frequency in the proximity of Hispaniola island. In fact, the population density accelerated since the second half of the 20th century in regions where historically more storms made landfall, such as in the departments Ouest, Artibonite, Nord and Nord-Ouest including Haiti's four largest cities: Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, Cap-Haitien and Port-de-Paix. Thus, urbanization in and migration into storm hazard prone areas could be considered as one of the major driving forces of Haiti's fragility.