The day was calm in Haiti. T en suddenly, the ground shook. Roads buckled. Homes collapsed. Schools crumpled. Whole neighborhoods were fl attened. T e ground shook for more than


35 seconds, then stopped. T e sky turned gray with dust. Fires burned. People called for help. Over a million people lost their homes. At least 200,000 people were killed. A violent earthquake had shaken


Haiti, and it wasn’t over yet. Two smaller quakes followed. T ey toppled the last buildings standing. T e people were stunned.


How Earthquakes Happen An earthquake is a sudden and oſt en violent shaking of the ground. Most quakes happen along the edges of the giant plates that make up Earth’s crust. T e places where plates meet are called faults. Earth’s plates move slowly. Some


plates move away from one another. Others grind by one another. Still others crash together. Plates can sometimes get stuck


when they grind by one another. When the plates suddenly slip with a jolt, an earthquake happens. T e quake creates waves called seismic waves. T ey ripple through Earth.


The earthquake in Haiti caused this crack in the road.


12 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


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