The disastrous magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs in Haiti. Thousand of people have been killed and countless buildings crushed in Haiti. In the western hemisphere, Haiti is the poorest country. Haiti earthquake was so dangerous because the medical infrastructure was already almost nonexistent in Haiti. Aid workers are facing countless critical medical needs for the millions, who have been affected by the widespread destruction, said by officials. Deadly diseases develop in a few days without access to clean water or sanitation. Less than one-third of the population has access to sanitation facilities. Fewer than half have access to clean drinking water. In the country, there is enormous burden of diarrheal illnesses.
Earthquakes are very dangerous. Slippage in the Earth’s crust is the cause of earthquakes. Several large pieces which are called plates make Earth’s crust. An Earthquake is occurred by the movement of the plates, the plates move gradually and when the plates meet in some areas that are called faults, there tension can build and when they suddenly released, earthquakes occurs. Extensive damage and death are caused by earthquakes alone. Also additional disaster can be activated by the earthquakes. When earthquakes take place under the sea they can produce large, powerful waves called tsunami which can move across the ocean at up to nearly 600 mph speeds. Earthquakes can be the cause of landslides too, which can be more lethal than the quake itself.
According to a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), earthquake triggered destruction and mounting death tolls in a highly complex tangle of tectonic faults near the intersection of the Caribbean and North American crustal plates. Three factors such as first, it was centered just 10 miles southwest of the capital city, Port au Prince; second, the quake was shallow—only about 10-15 kilometers below the land’s surface; third and more importantly, many homes and buildings in the economically poor country were not built to withstand such a force and collapsed or crumbled, made the quake particularly devastating, that is said by Jian Lin, a WHOI senior scientist in geology and geophysics.
The quake struck on a 50-60-km elongate of the more than 500-km-long Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault that runs usually east-west through Haiti, to the Dominican Republic to the east and Jamaica to the west. Movement of earth’s plates is very smooth so they do not directly past one another, in one spot, they stick for perhaps years or hundreds of years, awaiting sufficient pressure builds along the fault and to relieve the pressure, the landmasses suddenly jerk forward, liberating huge amounts of energy throughout the surrounding area. Along California’s San Andreas Fault, the same condition exists.
“If you live in adjacent areas, such as the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, you are surrounded by faults.” said Lin. He also focuses on the ways to save their lives and the lives of their families in the event of an earthquake. But there is more realistic situation in Haiti that the Presidential Palace suffered severe damage. He says that P waves are less destructive due to have smaller amplitudes that come first and; S waves are more destructive due to have larger amplitude that com slow. He also added that at least you have to build a strong table somewhere in your house and school to duck quickly under that table when a quake comes.
Such as an extreme ocean wave, tsunami, Haiti quake did not trigger partly due to it was large and centered under land and an extreme ocean wave, tsunami was huge and centered under the sea. For perhaps 100 years, this particular fault patch should not experience another quake of equal or greater magnitude, said by Lin. The myriad networks of faults and the other nine-tenths of that fault throughout the Caribbean are definitely “active.” So if your house is close to an active fault then memorize where you live and take the words of geologists seriously to protect you and your family.
Video of Haiti earthquake from youtube:
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i feeeel soooooo bad .
feel sad 4 haiti
i have several relatives who were also vicitimized by the earthquake in Haiti. thank God that they were not seriously hurt. i hope and pray that Haiti would be able to recover soon from this disaster.