Science Behind the earthquake in Haiti

Drew Erkelens
January 25th 2010
Current Science Report

Haiti Earthquake

On January 12th 2010 an earthquake that killed over 150,000 people hit Haiti, devastating the streets of their country. The body toll is told to be going up each day, and many say that they will never really know what the toll is because of the people burying them on their own, simply not caring enough to bury them at all and throwing them into dumps, or they have not been found under all the mess yet. The central government was failing to work, people were fleeing,there is no electricity,loots are happening here an there, and Haiti's president could not do much to help all of it. Many peace keepers and troops were sent in to help control the violence and help the relief effort. Only 121 survived and to top it all of there was a strong aftershock a few days later.

It has been over a century since the fault line over Haiti shook with a force of a 7.0 earthquake but when it did, it ruined many lives. There is an east-west line that stretches from Jamaica to Haiti that is called a fault line. A fault line is when two tectonic plates are being moved horizontally in the opposite directions making them scrape against each other.It is not a regular thing to have earthquakes in this location but since it is on a fault line the chances are increased. This kind of earthquake sets off Love Waves which move in a horizontal direction that can bring down buildings that lead to the destruction of Haiti.

No one expected this earthquake to happen especially since their tectonic plates are far under the Caribbean Sea. Often, this area is monitored much less because scientists have less knowledge about which direction the plates are moving, or when the tension is building up. What causes the earthquakes is when the tension builds up so much that they slip and cause the disaster. From the site, "http://www.geography-site.co", it said, "An earthquake can be likened to the effect observed when a stone is thrown into water. After the stone hits the water a series of concentric waves will move outwards from the center. The same events occur in an earthquake. There is a sudden movement within the crust or mantle, and concentric shock waves move out from that point. Geologists and Geographers call the origin of the earthquake the focus. Since this is often deep below the surface and difficult to map, the location of the earthquake is often referred to as the point on the Earth surface directly above the focus. This point is called the epicentre."

There are two types of earthquake scales, one is the Richter Scale, and the other is the Mercalli Scale. There are also different types of waves. There are three types, P-Wave, S-Wave, and the L-Wave. The type of wave that hit Haiti was an L-Wave.L-Waves are similar in motion to the sea. They move in a circular motion that causes the ground to rise and fall,wrecking many structures and lives.

I think that the earthquake in Haiti was bad and of all places for it to strike it hit the least prepared and least able to fix the damages.BUilding were already built poorly so this earthquake finished them off. People were already living in poor conditions and this only made it worse. At least many places are trying to help and are donating to all the relief efforts. Hopefully Haiti will be back up and running again or improved shortly.