7.3 earthquake in Haiti

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hylian

Hylian

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8455629.stm


Haiti rocked by powerful 7.3 earthquake



A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Haiti, rocking the capital and sparking a tsunami alert for neighbouring states.
The tremor hit at 1653 (2153 GMT), about 15km (10m) south-west of Port-au-Prince, the US Geological Survey said.
Haiti's envoy to the US said it was a \\"catastrophe of major proportions\\" as reports from the capital spoke of casualties and damage.
A hospital and other buildings are reported to have collapsed.
A visiting US official told AP the sky in the city was \\"just grey with dust\\" and he could hear distant screaming.
The low-lying impoverished state has been plagued by natural disasters.
I just hear a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance



Henry Bahn
US Department of Agriculture official, visiting Haiti

The quake was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect \\"coasts located usually no more than a 100km [60 miles] from the earthquake epicentre\\".
A tsunami watch was in effect for Haiti, the neighbouring Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas.
'Rubble and wire'
Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the US, told CNN: \\"I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions.\\"
He said he had just spoken to a government colleague in Port-au-Prince.
An AP cameraman saw the wrecked hospital in Petionville, a hilly suburb of the capital, and Henry Bahn, a visiting official from the US Department of Agriculture, said he had seen houses which had tumbled into a ravine.
\\"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken,\\" said Mr Bahn.
He had, he continued, been walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake.
\\"I just held on and bounced across the wall,\\" he said.
\\"I just hear a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance.\\"
Rocks, he added, were strewn all over the place, and the ravine where several homes had fallen in was \\"just full of collapsed walls and rubble and barbed wire\\".
Click to expand...
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
I'm watching this now. Haiti does not have very good construction. This could be bad.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
My sister-in-law lived in Haiti for a while, right by Port au Prince. I just spoke to her and she is unable to reach anyone she knows.
 
Rob King

Rob King

Dave said:
My sister-in-law lived in Haiti for a while, right by Port au Prince. I just spoke to her and she is unable to reach anyone she knows.
Click to expand...
That might not be too far off of the norm, though. Infrastructure in Haiti is downright laughable. In Port Au Prince, the power sometimes goes down for days at a time for no reason at all. Landlines are unreliable, and an earthquake is going to affect the cell towers that are around anyhow. On top of that everyone using the phones all at once to check on family and friends is going to gum up the works.

I'm sure your sister-in-law knows all this, of course, and while I don't want to downplay the gravity of an earthquake of that magnitude in a country of that poverty, her friends could very well be safe. Just without communication, is all.
 
North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Staff member
*deep sigh* Sorry, just couldn't help it. As part of my thesis, I've been reading about Toussaint L'Ouverture and how Saint-Domingue (that was to become Haiti) used to be one of the richest places in the Americas thanks to sugar. It's sad...
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Rob King said:
Haiti has this uncanny ability to never catch a break.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I came here to write.

Hurricanes, Poppa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier, Aristide, AIDS, Civil War, worst poverty in the West and now a major earthquake... What the hell did they ever do to piss off the universe?
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Yeah, best of luck and best wishes to them.

I think I'll skip buying Assassin's Creed 2 and donate the money to Haiti instead.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
Geologically, it's a very strange place for a quake. Particularly one of that magnitude. The aftershocks have been rather significant, too.

EDIT: No, sorry, I take that back. I had forgotten the Caribbean plate. That's embarrassing.
 
Rob King

Rob King

North_Ranger said:
*deep sigh* Sorry, just couldn't help it. As part of my thesis, I've been reading about Toussaint L'Ouverture and how Saint-Domingue (that was to become Haiti) used to be one of the richest places in the Americas thanks to sugar. It's sad...
Click to expand...
It's actually retarded. I never realized how significant Hait has been in world history until I started actively researching it. They pulled off the first and only successful slave revolt in modern history, became the world's first black republic, and were the second nation in the new world to declare independance, right after the USA. They fought out the French, Spanish, and to a lesser extent the English, and depending on how you look at current events, are currently struggling against the influence of America. After they gained their freedom, Haitian militants spread throughout the caribbean and Latin America, eventually helping liberate half a dozen other nations, including Venezuela and what would eventually become Columbia. When France's territory in Africa began to self-govern, Haitian nationals extended a helping hand, even though their own country was probably in even worse shape than the countries they were helping.

I was in Port Au Prince in 2007 during their flag day cellebrations. Despite the shitty hand they've been dealt over and over and over and over and over, they're still proud as all hell. And they have every right to be.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
Really?!? There are already conspiracy theories about some US Navy missile test shortly before the quake. Oh yeah. We've got quake missiles, baby.

Seriously, the energy output of a 7.0 quake is phenomenal. The largest thermonuke ever detonated achieved roughly 7.0, but its signature would be recognized almost immediately by any geoscientist with a seismograph.

Also, not sure why the title says 7.3. The USGS estimates 7.0, as does the BBC article linked in the OP. There's a huge difference, because earthquake magnitudes are logarithmic. 7.0 = 50 megatons, 7.5 = 178 megatons, etc.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
fade said:
Really?!? There are already conspiracy theories about some US Navy missile test shortly before the quake. Oh yeah. We've got quake missiles, baby.

Seriously, the energy output of a 7.0 quake is phenomenal. The largest thermonuke ever detonated achieved roughly 7.0, but its signature would be recognized almost immediately by any geoscientist with a seismograph.

Also, not sure why the title says 7.3. The USGS estimates 7.0, as does the BBC article linked in the OP. There's a huge difference, because earthquake magnitudes are logarithmic. 7.0 = 50 megatons, 7.5 = 178 megatons, etc.
Click to expand...
Fade, where did you read this?
 
Seraphyn

Seraphyn

Dave said:
Fade, where did you read this?
Click to expand...
Seems about right doesn't it? Wiki says: "Like the Richter scale, the MMS is logarithmic; on the scale, an earthquake one number higher is approximately thirty-one times (the square root of 1,000) more powerful (for example, 7.0 is about thirty-one times the power of 6.0)."
So there being a huge difference between 7 and 7.3 seems right on the mark.
 
Jay

Jay

I work with several Haitians. They are extremely upset at what has happened. Some have relatives there and have taken the day off as they are unable to reach them as their city is in complete chaos. You'd think they endured enough the last few decades. :(
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Seraphyn;328308][QUOTE=Dave said:
Fade, where did you read this?
Click to expand...
Seems about right doesn't it? Wiki says: "Like the Richter scale, the MMS is logarithmic; on the scale, an earthquake one number higher is approximately thirty-one times (the square root of 1,000) more powerful (for example, 7.0 is about thirty-one times the power of 6.0)."
So there being a huge difference between 7 and 7.3 seems right on the mark.[/QUOTE]

I meant about the missile. I can't find the conspiracy theory anywhere.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
Seraphyn;328308][QUOTE=Dave said:
Fade, where did you read this?
Click to expand...
Seems about right doesn't it? Wiki says: "Like the Richter scale, the MMS is logarithmic; on the scale, an earthquake one number higher is approximately thirty-one times (the square root of 1,000) more powerful (for example, 7.0 is about thirty-one times the power of 6.0)."
So there being a huge difference between 7 and 7.3 seems right on the mark.[/QUOTE]

Plus there's that whole Ph.D. in geophysics thing...
 
fade

fade

Staff member
Dave, I saw it on a blog, and again on another forum...I'd have to look for the links.
 
Hylian

Hylian

Dave;328311][QUOTE=Seraphyn;328308][QUOTE=Dave said:
Fade, where did you read this?
Click to expand...
Seems about right doesn't it? Wiki says: "Like the Richter scale, the MMS is logarithmic; on the scale, an earthquake one number higher is approximately thirty-one times (the square root of 1,000) more powerful (for example, 7.0 is about thirty-one times the power of 6.0)."
So there being a huge difference between 7 and 7.3 seems right on the mark.[/QUOTE]

I meant about the missile. I can't find the conspiracy theory anywhere.[/QUOTE]


So far all I can find is several people twittering it and a couple of blogs claiming it but so far I can't find any actual credible source of info on it.
 
K

Koko

fade;328337][QUOTE=Seraphyn;328308][QUOTE=Dave said:
Fade, where did you read this?
Click to expand...
Seems about right doesn't it? Wiki says: "Like the Richter scale, the MMS is logarithmic; on the scale, an earthquake one number higher is approximately thirty-one times (the square root of 1,000) more powerful (for example, 7.0 is about thirty-one times the power of 6.0)."
So there being a huge difference between 7 and 7.3 seems right on the mark.[/QUOTE]

Plus there's that whole Ph.D. in geophysics thing...[/QUOTE]

i said that outloud to myself when i read the post heh.

Haiti has the highest % of degree holding professionals who leave the country for the purposes of getting a better job.
Trying to remember the term...like "mind migration" or something. Brain something...
 
Calleja

Calleja

I was of the idea that 7.3 shouldn't be that big of a deal in this day and age... Mexico City was hit by an 8.1 quake in the same year I was born (1985) and even the after shocks were 7.5 and 7.0... even at an impoverished country like Haiti building standards in a high quake area should take into account major earthquakes. I hope reconstructions take this in mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City_earthquake
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

I don't think Haiti has building standards. Even the Presidential Palace was turned to rubble. Basic construction there is un-reinforced concrete block construction, and shanties as far as the eye can see.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
You're right in a way. Building codes go a long, long way. The 1986 San Francisco quake is often compared to a similar sized quake in Armenia the same year. 40 dead in SF, 25000 in Armenia. Then again, a 7.0 quake is very significant. Also, the problem with earthquake magnitudes is that they don't translate regionally. Magnitude is not equal to intensity, which is the amount of damage. 8.1 in hard, craton rock can be much, much, much less damaging than a 7.0 quake on soft, coastal sediment.
 
Calleja

Calleja

Yeah, which is the case of Mexico City (it was mostly built on top of a lake, which means it's on top of sediment) and we still have the Torre Mayor which is still the tallest building in Latin America and has enough quake damping that it not only survived a 7.6 quake unscathed, people that were on it didn't even FEEL the quake (this was mentioned in the wiki article I linked in my previous post, even). And this is in a third world country, mind you, I'm not comparing Haiti to England here.
 
Rob King

Rob King

Pat Robertson: has just re-earned a place of honor on my list of people I will punch if ever I meet them.

As for 7.3 vs. 7.0, I think I recall reading 7.3 on the BBC last night.

And with regards to building codes: it'll be a long time before anything can be enforced. Just last year a school collapsed under it's own weight killing a few dozen children. The 'missionary' who had built the school had been raising money, but then cutting corners by avoiding what code did technically exist, and just kept building floor after floor after floor onto his building, to a grisly result.

Fact is, any new code that they introduce will have to be adhered to voluntarily. There are slums in the city that the UN can't even go into. There would be no way to enforce it.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
Calleja said:
Yeah, which is the case of Mexico City (it was mostly built on top of a lake, which means it's on top of sediment) and we still have the Torre Mayor which is still the tallest building in Latin America and has enough quake damping that it not only survived a 7.6 quake unscathed, people that were on it didn't even FEEL the quake (this was mentioned in the wiki article I linked in my previous post, even). And this is in a third world country, mind you, I'm not comparing Haiti to England here.
Click to expand...
I knew you'd make the lake point, and you're right. I read up on the quake. Mexico City city reported "major damage" from the quake. According to your link, 412 collapsed buildings. One really important thing to note, too, is that the quake focus was 350 km away from Mexico city, whereas the quake that hit yesterday was only 15 km from Port-Au-Prince. Not disputing your point though--building codes should be updated. The complaint will be the expense associated with it.
 
Calleja

Calleja

Of course, that's my point, the 8.1 earthquake was such a fucking devastation 25 years ago that ever since we've been known to just hold up our coffee cups to avoid them spilling while 7.6 quakes rumble through. So seeing a similar intensity completely destroy an entire city (and with it much of the country) in 2010 just boggles my mind.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top