Earthquake in Haiti and its Ramifications

The 2021 disaster was quickly compared to a similar earthquake in 2010, which struck on the same fault lines, long cracks in the earth's surface where earthquakes are common. Little changed since 2010 – Haiti is still in dire straits; The national palace, for example, has yet to be rebuilt.

The quake struck at 4:53 p.m. about 15 miles (25 km) southwest of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The initial shock had a magnitude of 7.0 and was soon followed by two aftershocks of magnitude 5.9 and 5.5. Other aftershocks followed in the following days, including another 5.9 magnitude aftershock that struck on January 20 in Petit Goâve, a town located about 55 kilometers from Port-au-Prince in the West. Haiti hasn't experienced an earthquake of this magnitude since the 18th century, the strongest being the 6.9 magnitude earthquake in 1984. An 8.0 magnitude earthquake occurred in Haiti. Dominican Republic in 1946.

Geologists initially attributed the earthquake to the eastward movement of the Caribbean tectonic plate along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden (EPG) strike fault system. However, when no surface deformation was observed, failure of the main fiber of the fault system was excluded as the cause. The EPG fault system forms a transform boundary separating the Gonâve microplate – the fragment of the North American plate on which Haiti lies – from the Caribbean plate.

More than 2,200 humans died, 12,700 humans had been injured, and 130,000 houses had been destroyed via way of means of the earthquake, leaving heaps of humans in pressing want of assistance.

Even earlier than the earthquake, Haiti become dealing with more than one crisis, consisting of developing political instability, developing gang-associated violence and lack of confidence, civil unrest, and growing meals lack of confidence and malnutrition. All of those demanding situations had been similarly exacerbated via way of means of COVID-19. Now, fitness centers, schools, bridges, and different important centers and infrastructures on which youngsters and households rely have additionally been impacted – in a few cases, irreparably.