Haiti Earthquake Essay

January 12, 2010 became the piece base of tragedy for the population of Haiti an mankind jar of noble force calamity the small island, statussplitting and injuring thousands of spate. The temblor mooted into a ravage power, destroying everything in the epicentre and miles beyond. It was the closely potent seism in Haiti in more(prenominal) than 100 years. Now, several months subsequently the tragical even upt, Haitian authorities still run to restore the economic and social stableness in the region. Earth beats are difficult to squall the Haiti seism did non bewilder some(prenominal) model signs or foreshocks.It was equally unheralded and powerful. The aftershocks that followed confirmed the complexity of the natural exploites that normally occur during seisms. The terrible seism that stroke Haiti on January 12th, 2010 affected around triple million people, with between 100,000 and 200,000 dead (Physics Today, 2010). metrical 7. 0 according to the ear thquake order, the Haiti quake became the near powerful and the most annihilating in the region over the termination 100 years (Physics Today, 2010). 7.0 earthquakes are believed to be large, but non huge, and the Haiti earthquake was non the strongest and the most tragic in the world history.For the regions with high seismic activity, 7. 0-8. 0-magnitude earthquakes are a norm of life which, condescension its power and negative consequences, is impossible to escape. In case of the Haiti earthquake, terzetto essential factors contributed to the human and material losses beginning, the epicenter was in 10 miles from the capital city, Port-au-Prince (Physics Today, 2010).Second, the earthquake was change by itself in other words, it was however 10-15 kilometers below the lands stand up (Physics Today, 2010). Third, given the state of the Haitian preservation and the level of poverty in the region, most of the topical anaesthetic buildings were non knowing to guard th e pressure of an earthquake and simply collapsed (Physics Today, 2010). The three menti superstard factors turned the Haiti earthquake for the worst-case scenario for its people (Physics Today, 2010). A belief persists that the current state of technology facilitates the prediction of earthquakes.Today, thousands of people are assured that seismologists could have predicted the course of events in Haiti. Yet, the honesty is quite diverse. Notwithstanding the recent proficient advancements, predicting earthquakes (especially, in the long run) is still egresslying(prenominal) from possible. No, that does not mean that seismologists do not monitor archiarc bootectonic activity. Monitoring zones give care Haiti around the world to get a general sense of where the next much(prenominal) pops may happen is not that difficult, broadly speaking be bring in tectonic activity is hard to restrain completely (Kluger, 2010).Scientists have information and technologies necessity to mak e predictions nigh where on the landscape earthquakes are the equalliest to occur, but forecasting in the long term is problematic and rarely objective (Kluger, 2010). During the 18th Caribbean Geological concourse in March 2008, five scientists presented their paper, stating that the tectonic zone on the southeastern side of the island was a serious seismic casualty (Griggs, 2010). The scientists had been increasingly concerned about the interruption zone which, eventually, became the source of the major problems and the epicenter of the earthquake.Professionals justify the lack of attention toward the field of study by the fact that such strikes and zones burn remain dormant for hundreds of years (Griggs, 2010). precondition the difficulties which seismologists usually experience in the process of predicting earthquakes, the reliability of their reports is often questionable. The findings presented on the 2008 concourse followed the 2004 study in the Journal of geo soma togenic Research, which reported an add-ond earthquake happen in the Septentrional pick zone come Haiti, not far-off from the Domini privy country (Griggs, 2010).However, because Haiti is fairly regarded as one of the most active seismic zones in the world, even the heightened seismic activity does not inevitably imply that the region is facing an earthquake threat the nearest strike can occur years and decades later. The Haiti earthquake was unequaled in the sense that it was not preceded by some(prenominal) evacuations or warning signs. The earth in Haiti did not give any sign of a foreshock and did not disseminate either a water or an electrical signal (Kluger, 2010).Even the P wave equipment, which seismologists use to detect vibrations, did not display any changes in the tectonic activity in the region (Kluger, 2010). people did not have a possibility to foresee the events that would follow the initiative shake. The earthquake stroke at 2153 UTC, January 12, 2010, i n South Haiti, not far from the capital Port-au-Prince (RMS, 2010). The quake was felt across the Haiti region, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Southern Bahamas, up to the northeast and southeast coasts of Cuba (RMS, 2010).The 2 cities closest to the epicenter, Port-au-Prince and Jacmel, experient up to 7. 0 metier agitate on the MMI scale (RMS, 2010). The strikes of such intensity usually cause moderate monetary time value to property (RMS, 2010). The earthquake was not followed by a tsunami, and no tsunami warning was issued (RMS, 2010). Seismologists bleed to differentiate between the three different types of earthquakes. The dip-slip-fault means than one clashing plateful slides under the other (Kluger, 2010). The reverse dip-slip fault implies that tectonic plates pull apart (Kluger, 2010).The strike-slip is associated with a sideways grinding of the plates (Kluger, 2010). The Haiti earthquake was of the strike-slip type, signification that the two tectonic p lates on the both sides of the fault move in resister directions the Caribbean Plate went east, while the Gonvave Platelet moved to the west (Physics Today, 2010). The more interesting and important, however, what people are likely to experience during an earthquake of the magnitude similar to that in Haiti. A missionary from Haiti said It felt like a train was coming shine the road.It (the house) wasnt thrill, it was rocking. I went outside and the fomite in the driveway was rocking, glass pause all around the house (Leach, 2010). other witness described the beginning of the earthquake as the rumbling of the ground underneath his feet he saw a 400sq m house collapsing on the ground, with people seek to pull an elderly woman out of the rubble (Leach, 2010). Everything was shaking, people were screaming, while houses unploughed collapsing (Leach, 2010). Like any other earthquake, the one that stroke Haiti threw people into the whirl of shaking, trembling, and noise.inside mi nutes after the strike, witnesses could see a huge haze over of dust and jackpot rising from the Haiti capital (Leach, 2010). The moment of the first shock was only the beginning in a series of aftershocks that followed. By Friday, 22 January, seismologists noted 54 aftershocks between Mw 4. 0 and 7. 0 (RMS, 2010). The two largest aftershocks rated Mw 5. 9 (RMS, 2010). The first aftershock occurred minutes after the main quake and was located 20 miles southwest of the mainshock (RMS, 2010).The second stroke the island eight days after the mainshock, on January 20, 2010 (RMS, 2010). Seismologists report that both aftershocks could not reach intensity higher(prenominal) than V which, according to the MMI scale, would cause very wild injure to buildings (RMS, 2010). However, buildings in Haiti had not been designed to withstand the pressure of an earthquake moreover, by the time the aftershock occurred, they had already been weakened as a result, the second aftershock could readil y turn into another serious attack on the Haitian property.The aftershock that hit Haiti on January 20, 2010 stimulate the Haitians, already traumatized by the crushing earthquake that had happened several days before (Murphy, 2010). Those who survived see the growing fear and concern about their lives and the property that had not collapsed during the mainshock. Yet, the aftershocks caused little or no additional damage (Murphy, 2010). It should be noted, that although 6. 1 and 7. 0 magnitude enumerate almost similar, the difference between the two is much greater.Unlike temperature scales, in which units of increase are constant, the method used to whole step earthquake magnitudes is logarithmic. What this generally means is that the aggregate of shaking caused by a 5. 0 earthquake is 10 times slight than that caused by a 6. 0 earthquake and 100 times less of that caused by a 7. 0 earthquake. (Murphy, 2010) Earthquakes of the magnitude between 6. 0 and 7. 0 are not uncomm on in the Haitian region, and the aftershocks that followed the devastating earthquake on the 12th January were not significant.The effects of the aftershocks were more emotional than physical which, given the seriousness and the consequences of the event, were natural and justified. Today, when Haiti struggles to choke the consequences of the quake and to restore the economic constancy in the region, seismologists and scholars in geology science musical accompaniment arguing about whether the Haiti earthquake could have been predicted. Whether seismologists could have predicted the Haiti earthquake is no long important, and it is equally difficult to estimate the value and importance of the 2008 scientific report.Nevertheless, the Haiti earthquake teaches seismologists many lessons and once once more emphasizes the need to make go away technologies and systems, which would predict earthquakes and warn local populations about them. Conclusion The Haiti Earthquake hit the isla nd on January 12, 2010. With the magnitude not higher than 7. 0, the quake turned out to be the worst-case scenario for Haiti, killing and injuring thousands of local residents. The quakes of such magnitude are believed to cause average damage to people and property, but Haiti historically lacked resources prerequisite to build houses, which would withstand an earthquake.As a result, buildings collapsed, killing thousands and injuring even more. No warning signs or evacuations preceded the earthquake it was equally contiguous and unexpected. People felt the land shaking and rumbling beneath their feet, with a cloud of smoke and dust rising to a higher place the capital. A series of aftershocks that followed did not cause much additional damage but became the source of serious emotional effects. The Haiti earthquake was another good lesson to seismologists, and once again emphasized the need to develop sound technologies which would predict earthquakes and warn populations about i t.