Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake Hits Haiti Region, USGS Says

By Brad Skillman

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck in the Haiti region, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.
A tsunami warning for countries bordering the Caribbean sea was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Agence France- Presse reported.
The earthquake was centered about 14 miles (22 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, which has about 2 million inhabitants.
A videographer for the Associated Press said a hospital collapsed in Petionville, the news agency reported.
Last Updated: January 12, 2010 17:24 EST




Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake Hits Haiti Region, USGS Says (Update1) - Bloomberg.com


Mods, move this if inappropriate-- I want the East Coasters alerted!

Wow ,just what those poor people need.

So far, there have been three 5.0 or greater aftershocks following the Magnitude 7.0 quake. The aftershocks registered 5.9, 5.5, and 5.1.

Haiti is a horrible place to have an earthquake given the poorly constructed buildings, lack of heavy emergency equipment, density of population, and topography. Fortunately, no tsunamis were generated by the quake.

There have been major quakes in the past in the Caribbean, some of which had generated tsunamis. With respect to a powerful earthquake that hit Jamaica in 1692, it was written, "In this general overthrow Port Royal was washed away and destroyed; all the ships in the road were shattered to pieces or thrown to a considerable distance on dry land." With respect to an earthquake that struck near Port Au Prince in 1770, it was written, "...there was a terrible earthquake in that island which had entirely thorwn down every house in Port au Prince except one... The village called Croix De Bouquets containing about a hundred families, two leagues from Port Au Prince, had wholly sunk and disappeared, there being nothing but water to be seen in its place... A very high mountain...was thrown into the sea which caused a swell to rise to the height of 130 feet above the common surface."

Sources of quotes:

"Description of the earthquake at Port-Royal, in Jamaica, June 7th, 1692, Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer, October 26, 1784 and "Newport: July 2," The Connecticut Courant, July 9, 1770.

Just caught this on Fox, they had a missionary that was reporting via satellite, and even sent in a photo. He said concrete buildings were swaying like grass.

Commoncents said:

Wow ,just what those poor people need.

Click to expand...

Yeah that country has always been a mess. It must be hell on earth now.

I saw somewhere where the people were so desperate there really aren't any trees to speak of on the island.

Three quick links on the catastrophe in Haiti:

CIA World Factbook

The Lede Blog (Accounts from Haiti)

USGS Reports

The United States has immediately mobilized to address Haiti's catastrophe:

“The United States is offering our full assistance to Haiti and to others in the region. We will be providing both civilian and military disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.” — Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state¹

Click to expand...

“We are committed to do whatever we can to assist the people of Haiti in their relief, rebuilding and recovery efforts.” — President Bill Clinton, a UN special envoy for Haiti²

Click to expand...

“My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this earthquake. We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti.” — President Barack Obama³

Click to expand...

God bless America!

Haiti Hit By Largest Quake in Over 200 Years

Bad start for 2010.

(PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti) — The strongest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing a hospital where people screamed for help and heavily damaging the National Palace, U.N. peacekeeper headquarters and other buildings. U.S. officials reported bodies in the streets and an aid official described "total disaster and chaos."

United Nations officials said a large number of U.N. personnel were unaccounted for.
(See the top 10 news stories of 2009.)

Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a full picture of damage as powerful aftershocks shook a desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy. Electricity was out in some places.



Read more: Haiti Hit By Largest Quake in Over 200 Years - TIME

Click to expand...

Amazing because we were talking about the 6.5 quake that hit near Eureka CA. yesterday and the over 20 million dollars in estimated damage, and within 10 minutes of us talking about it we were hit with a 4.3 centered 3 miles north of Banning CA. and it lasted about 20 seconds or so. Being within 8 miles of my home it felt pretty strong but it was nothing compared to 7 plus since the strength goes up exponentially.

I would be concerned except I know from reporting on these quakes for many years they are very frequent numbering in the 10s of thousands per day around the world. Most being minor to moderate with the vast majority going unnoticed.

I don't ever want to be close to the big one when it comes but I live 6 miles from the San Andreas 15 miles east of Palm Springs so if I'm alive I will feel it.
Being a California Native I've felt hundreds but you never can be ready for one where the shaking lasts more than a few seconds.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1971 14 Killed, 9 at Two Hospitals;
Southland Damage in Millions, Scores Trapped, In Building Ruins
and that was the 6.5 Sylmar Quake that hit at 6:02 as I was stepping out of bed 199 miles away in San Diego and it sat me back down.

It's time to pray for the poor people in Haiti. The living and the dead. From what I have seen the death toll will be sky high, and not known for days.

Tragically, the combination of a powerful earthquake and poorly constructed buildings, lack of heavy emergency equipment, density of population, and topography have created the possibility that the earthquake could become one of the great catastrophes of the modern era.

Today, CNN reported:

The Haitian prime minister said Wednesday several hundred thousand people may have died in Haiti's powerful earthquake...

"Because we have so much people on the streets right now, we don't know exactly where they were living. But so many, so many buildings, so many neighborhoods totally destroyed, and some neighborhoods we don't even see people."

Click to expand...

Hundreds of thousands may have died in Haiti quake, PM says - CNN.com

Hopefully, the Prime Minister's estimates will prove far worse than what actually happened. Yet, even if they do, the loss of life and devastation will be of an enormous magnitude.