GEO Haiti 2010

State of the Environment Report 2010
Date Place Remarks
141
January 20, 2010
West Province and
some regions in the
Southeast Province.
According to Civil Defence, 222,517 Haitians were
killed, 310,900 injured and millions of others badly
affected. (Report of February 23, 2010).
Source: http://www.haiti-reference.com/geographie/milieu/desastres.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters_in_Haiti
The Mines and Energy Bureau (BME) has long
recognised the risk of earthquakes occurring in
Haiti. However, according to a study done by
Claude Prépetit on behalf of the BME 60 , the social
and economic hardships that have taken hold in
the country have made it difficult for the Haitian
authorities to put advice to practical use and
implement the measures considered necessary
in order to respond to warnings.
The January 12, 2010 earthquake demonstrated
again the vulnerability of Haiti and of its
population when stricken by major natural
hazards. The urgent need for proper preventive
measures to mitigate human and physical losses,
the improvement of construction standards and
their compliance, and the implementation of
public awareness programmes on emergency
procedures in the event of disasters, are all priority
actions which need to be taken immediately.
The density of the affected area, low quality
of constructions and an inadequate urban
planning, together with the superficial depth
and intense magnitude of the quake increased
the repercussions. At the end of February, Haitian
Civil Defence figures put the death toll at 222,517
persons, with 310,900 injured and millions
otherwise affected. The IBD estimates that the
cost of reconstruction could be as high as $14
billion.
The experts from the French Institut de Physique du
Globe de Paris (IPGP) explain that the earthquake
took place on the northern boundary between
the Caribbean and North American tectonic
plates. “The plates converge at a rate of about 20
mm per year. If the sliding had been occurring
regularly, there would not have been an
earthquake” explains expert Robin Lacassin of
the IPGP, “but the movement causes tremendous
friction which deforms the rocks and then, due
to the effect of the built-up pressure, the plates
suddenly slide 2 metres and an earthquake
occurs.
In regard to the island of Hispaniola, the movement
between the two plates is distributed over several
faults including two major fault systems (see
Figures 86 and 87) - the Septentrional Fault in the
north and the Enriquillo Plantain-Garden Fault in
the south - each one of these absorbing about
7mm of the stress caused by the movement per
year.
Seismic records showed very elevated figures,
with a peak of 7.0 on the Richter scale. Two
aftershocks followed closely, with a first peak of
5.8 and a second of 5.3. The peculiarity of this
quake is that it took place close to the surface,
its wave therefore spread very quickly and
intense shaking was felt. The quake was also felt
in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, namely in
Santiago and Guantanamo.
The position and mechanism of the origin of the
earthquake indicate a senestral fault rupture on
the Enriquillo Fault (with a minor overlapping
60
http://www.bme.gouv.ht/alea%20sismique/Al%E9a%20et%20risque%20sismique%20en%20Ha%EFti%20VF.pdf