The earthquake in 2010 Haiti

The earthquake in 2010 Haiti was registered on January 12, 2010 at 16:53:09 local time (21:53:09 UTC) with epicenter at 15 km from Port au Prince, Haiti's capital. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake would have had a magnitude of 7.0 degrees and would have accrued at a depth of 10 kilómetros.5 There has also been a series of aftershocks, the strongest being that of 5.9, 5.5 and 5.1 degrees. NOAA dismissed the danger of a tsunami in the zona.6 This earthquake was the strongest recorded in the area since happened in 1770. The quake was felt in nearby countries such as Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, where it caused fear and precautionary evacuations.
The effects caused on this country, the poorest in Latin America, [citation needed] have been devastating. The bodies recovered on 25 January than 150,000, calculated that the death toll could reach 200.000.7 8 also would have produced more than 250,000 wounded and left a million homeless people. It is considered one of the most serious humanitarian disasters of historia.9
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Historical Background
The island's Spanish, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, is active and has experienced seismic significant and devastating earthquakes in the past.
An earthquake shook her in 1751 when it was under French control in 1770 and another earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale devastated Puerto Principe for completo.10 11 According to the French historian Moreau de Saint-Méry (1750-1819) , "while building suffered no damage in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake of October 18, 1751, the whole town collapsed during the earthquake of June 3, 1770" 12
The city of Cap Haitien and other northern Haiti and the Dominican Republic, were destroyed by the earthquake of May 7, 1842.13
In 1887 and 1904 there were two earthquakes, one per year in northern Iraq, causing "major damage" 14
In 1946, an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 occurred in the Dominican Republic, which also affected Haiti. This earthquake produced a tsunami that killed personas.15 1790
An earthquake prevention study carried out in 1992 by C. DeMets and M. Wiggins-Grandison established as a conclusion the possibility that the failure of Enriquillo could be the end of its seismic cycle and predicted a scenario, at worst, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, similar in magnitude to the earthquake in Jamaica 1692.16
Paul Mann, a study team presented in 2006 a risk assessment in the failure of Enriquillo at the 18th Caribbean Geological Conference in March 2008. Given the heightened tension, the team recommended "high priority" historical studies of earthquakes, such as failure, which was completely blocked and had recorded some earthquakes in the past 40 años.17 An article published in the Journal Le Matin of Haiti in September 2008 showed the comments cited by the geologist Charles Patrick that he had a high risk of increased seismic activity in Puerto Príncipe.18
Details and immediate consequences


Map of earthquake intensity on the Mercalli scale according to USAID.
The earthquake occurred inland, the January 12, 2010, approximately a distance of 15 km southwest of Port au Prince and at a depth of 10 km, at 16: 05.19 UTC-53 had a magnitude of 7.0 on the scale Richter and felt with an intensity of grade IX on the Mercalli scale seismic Puerto Príncipe.20 also recorded in Cuba, Jamaica, Venezuela and the neighboring country of Republic Dominicana.21 The U.S. Geological Survey had registered to least six aftershocks within two hours after the main earthquake. Measured about 4.825 and 5,9,22 5,5,23 5,1,24 4,5.26 During the first nine hours there have been 26 aftershocks larger than 4.2 in different parts of the Tiburon Peninsula, of which twelve are higher than 5,0.27
On Wednesday, January 20th at 11:03:44 UTC a strong aftershock of 6,1,28 then corrected to 5.929 degrees on the Richter scale. Was recorded at 60 kilometers west of Port au Prince and was felt in the Haitian capital, according to the United States.30 Geological Just during the earthquake, the Twitter microblogging network came abajo.31
The earthquake occurred near the northern edge of the Caribbean tectonic plate, which moves continuously and slowly eastward 20 mm per year in relation to the North American plate and pierces right through the middle of the island of Spanish. The system failure or transverse tear formed in the region like the San Andreas fault in California, United States, has two branches in Haiti, the ruling northern, north, and the failure of Enriquillo in the south. Seismic data suggest that the earthquake was about the failure of Henriot, who was under pressure for 240 years, accumulating a lot of potential energy, which sparked a major earthquake finally releasing energy equivalent to the explosion of 200 000 kilos of trinitrotoluene (dynamite) 32
According to a member of the U.S. Geological Survey, based on the size and location of the quake, about three million people were affected, 33 although exact details will be forthcoming because of the extent of the damage.
The Center for the Pacific Tsunami Warning issued a tsunami warning after the earthquake for Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, which was canceled shortly thereafter. However, the Government of Cuba gave the order to evacuate all coastal populations, especially the eastern town Baracoa.34
The earthquake has been described as the largest earthquake recorded in Haiti two hundred años.33 One of the consequences of the earthquake was the collapse of all telephone lines, 33 being essential to use the Internet, using social networks like Twitter and Facebook, websites as YouTube video, e-mails and web transmissions of radio and television. Social networks in particular have been widely used for the collection and dissemination of information and pictures of suceso.35
Haiti is the poorest country of America, characterized by having about 80% of its population below the poverty line (54% live in extreme poverty), a subsistence economy, ie practically live to eat; remittances received from migrants represent 40% of its GDP benefit to just over 900 000 familias.36 This country is ranked 149 of 182 countries by Human Development Index, which raises concerns especially in the ability of hospitals and basic health and first aid to deal with a seismic disaster of this magnitude.