Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. It is ranked 149th out of 182 countries on the HDI (Human Development Index). Most people live on less than €1.50 a day. It has a population of 10 million people.
Haiti is located on a Caribbean island called Hispaniola which lies on the
transform/conservative plate boundary between the Caribbean plate and the North American plate. The region is seismically active, suffering many earthquakes and tsunamis over centuries.
A devastating earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale occurred on 12 January 2010 killing 230,000 people.
The quake was also felt in neighbouring countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Dominican Republic (which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti) and Puerto Rico.
Cause
The quake occurred close to a fault line where the Caribbean plate shifts eastwards by about 20 mm per year in relation to the North American plate. This fault system has two branches in Haiti. It was along one of these branch faults that the earthquake happened. There had been a long period of seismic silence on this fault. It had not moved for 250 years during which time huge pressure built up and was suddenly released during the quake.
It was a shallow quake. The focus was at a depth of just 13 km. The epicentre was about 25 km from the capital city, Port-au-Prince.
CUBA MEXICO BELIZE GUATEMALA HONDURAS NICARAGUA 72·6 81·2 COCOS PLATE COSTA RICA PANAMA VENEZUELA SOUTH AMERICAN PLATE 65·0
NAZCA PLATE
COLOMBIA GUYANA HAITI 20·0 JAMAICA CARIBBEAN PLAT E
NORTH AMERICAN PLAT E 20·0
20·0
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
PUERTO RICO
20·0
ARTHQUAKES
20·0
20·0
ECUADOR PERU
Peak Ground Acceleration 0 — 0·2 m/sec2
Fig. 15 Tectonic situation of the Haitian earthquake.