Background

The island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is seismically active and has a history of destructive earthquakes. Haiti is no stranger to natural disasters. In addition to earthquakes, it has been struck frequently by tropical cyclones, which have caused flooding and widespread damage.

 Haiti is the poorest country in the Western

Hemisphere, and is ranked 149th of 182 countries on the Human Development Index

 The 2010 Haiti earthquake was

a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Logne (Ouest Department), approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake. Death toll estimates range from 100,000 to 159,000 by Haitian

 Many notable landmark buildings were significantly

damaged or destroyed,
Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and Prison Civile de Port-au-Prince (the main jail)

Aftershocks
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded

eight aftershocks in the two hours after the main earthquake, with magnitudes between 4.3 and 5.9.
Within the first nine hours 32 aftershocks of

magnitude 4.2 or greater were recorded, 12 of which measured magnitude 5.0 or greater, and on 24 January USGS reported that there had been 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater since 12 January quake.

Tsunami
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued

a tsunami warning immediately after the initial quake,[town of Petit Paradis was hit by a localised tsunami wave shortly after the earthquake, probably as a result of an underwater slide, At least three people were swept out to sea by the wave and were reported dead.

Damage to infrastructure
Amongst the widespread devastation and damage

throughout Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, vital infrastructure

all hospitals in the capital;
air, sea, and land transport facilities; and communication systems ei. seriously damaged

the control tower estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings 90 percent of the town's buildings had been destroyed. The Prison Civile de Port-au-Prince was also destroyed, allowing around 4,000 inmates to escape.

Definition
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves.
In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event whether natural or caused by humans that generates seismic waves.

The seismicity or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. Earthquakes are measured using observations from seismometers.

The moment magnitude is the most common scale on which earthquakes larger than approximately 5 are reported for the entire globe.

The more numerous earthquakes smaller than magnitude 5 reported by national seismological observatories are measured mostly on the
local magnitude scale, also referred to as the

Richter scale.

At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacement of the ground. When the epicenter of a large earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently to cause a tsunami. Earthquakes can also trigger landslides, and occasionally volcanic activity.

 Earthquakes are caused mostly by

rupture of

geological faults, but also by other events such as

volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests.
An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called

its focus or hypocenter.

The

epicenter is the point at ground level directly

above the hypocenter

Earthquake fault types

There are three main types of fault that may cause an

normal, reverse (thrust) and strike-slip.

earthquake:

Normal and reverse faulting are examples of

dip-slip, where the displacement along the fault is in the direction of dip and movement on them involves a vertical component.

Normal faults

occur mainly in areas where the crust is being extended such as a divergent boundary. Reverse faults occur in areas where the crust is being shortened such as at a convergent boundary.

Strike-slip faults are steep structures where the

two sides of the fault slip horizontally past each other; transform boundaries are a particular type of strike-slip fault.

Earthquakes and volcanic activity

Earthquakes often occur in volcanic regions and are caused

there, both by tectonic faults and the movement of magma in volcanoes. Such earthquakes can serve as an early warning of volcanic eruptions, as during the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980.
Earthquake swarms can serve as markers for the location of

the flowing magma throughout the volcanoes. These swarms can be recorded by seismometers and tiltmeters (a device that measures ground slope) and used as sensors to predict imminent or upcoming eruptions.

Aftershocks
An aftershock is an earthquake that occurs

after a previous earthquake, the main shock.

An aftershock is in the same region of the main shock but always of a smaller magnitude. If an aftershock is larger than the main shock, the aftershock is redesignated as the main shock and the original main shock is redesignated as a foreshock. Aftershocks are formed as the crust around the displaced fault plane adjusts to the effects of the main shock

Effects of earthquakes
Earthquakes

can cause fires by damaging electrical power or gas lines.

In the event of water mains

rupturing and a loss of pressure, it may also become difficult to stop the spread of a fire once it has started.

 They cause

which are long-wavelength, long-period sea waves produced by the sudden or abrupt movement of large volumes of water.

Tsunamis

Human Impacts

General property

damage

(which An earthquake may cause injury and loss of life, road and bridge damage, may or may not be covered by earthquake insurance), and collapse or destabilization (potentially leading to future collapse) of buildings.

disease, lack of basic necessities, and higher insurance premiums.

The aftermath may bring

Major Earthquakes
One of the most devastating earthquakes in recorded

23 January 1556 in the Shaanxi province, China, killing more than 830,000 people.
history occurred on
The

1976 Tangshan earthquake, with death toll estimated to be between 240,000 to 655,000, is
believed to be the largest earthquake of the 20th century by death toll.

 The largest earthquake that has been

measured on a seismograph reached 9.5 magnitude, occurring on 22 May 1960. Its epicenter was near Caete, Chile.

The energy released was approximately

twice that of the next most powerful earthquake, the Good Friday Earthquake, which was centered in Prince William Sound, Alaska. all been mega thrust earthquakes; however, of these ten, only the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake is simultaneously one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.

The ten largest recorded earthquakes have

The 2010 Haiti Earthquake

Prediction
Many different methods have been developed for

predicting the time and place in which earthquakes will occur.

Despite considerable research efforts by seismologists,

scientifically reproducible predictions cannot yet be made to a specific day or month.

However, for well-understood faults the probability

that a segment may rupture during the next few decades can be estimated

 Earthquake warning systems

have been developed that can provide regional notification of an earthquake in progress.

But before the ground surface has begun to move,

potentially allowing people within the system's range to seek shelter before the earthquake's impact is felt.

Once you have been in an earthquake you know, even if you survive without a scratch, that like a stroke in the heart, it remains in the earth's breast, horribly potential, always promising to return, to hit you again, with an even more devastating force. Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Thank you