Haiti Earthquake 2010
Essay by Stella • August 23, 2011 • Essay • 402 Words (2 Pages) • 1,637 Views
Pd-1 Geomorph
The earth is an ever changing force of nature even right now the plates are drifting away and are pushing together or pulling apart. The earth is a very unpredictable place and also very dangerous, the Haiti earthquake is an example of that. There are many ways that the earth can change, the plates could slice under, hit together or pull away. The movement of the plates causes earthquakes.
Haiti was a very corrupt and the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The plates under Haiti were pushing against each other for a long time and it was only a matter of time before they moved. The Haiti earthquake was the strongest to hit the nation in over 200 years. Stress built up between the Caribbean and North American plates in an east - west direction. The Caribbean and North American plates caused lots of earthquakes but not near the Haiti area. The Haiti area is not very well documented for its natural disasters so not many people expected a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.
The earthquake occurred on January 12th 2010 and that's when people started to feel shaking underground. This was because the Caribbean and north American plates finally reached a point in which they could not handle any more stress and this occurred as a strike-slip fault. A strike slip fault is when the plates pushing east - west slip due to excess pressure and the landforms on top slide along with it. The earthquake was a magnitude of 7.0 which is 10 times stronger than an magnitude 6.0 earthquake. Because of the major 7.0 magnitude earthquake there were lots of aftershocks measuring at an average of 4.5 each.
After the earthquake there was lots of panic in Haiti because of all the deaths and loss of homes, the electricity was gone and most of the houses were destroyed.
There were a lot of homeless people and many had lost family and friends. The plates were relieved of their pressure because of the strike slip fault and they caused the land above them to move and become malformed. The Caribbean and North American plates are still moving right now and slowly building up pressure again for the next earthquake.
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