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Economic Impact Of The Earthquake

Decent Essays
Earthquakes and Society
On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 earthquake struck the Republic of Haiti. This earthquake caused a large amount of destruction and devastation. In order to understand this earthquake more in depth, it will be discussed on how it affected the earth, the damages and death tolls, the economic impact, and the permanent consequences.
Affecting the Earth
The earthquake happened about 15 miles southwest from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince at 4:35pm. The geology of Haiti consists of igneous rocks formed within a volcanic island arc. Haiti is situated on the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate is below. The Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden Fault which accounts for over half of the movement between the Caribbean and North American plates which equals to about 7 millimeters per year. (Cressey, 2010). The earthquake occurred on the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system. The plates move in an east-west direction and which had caused the energy release. (“What Caused the Devastating Haiti Earthquake?,” 2010)
Since the American North American and the Caribbean plates slide past each other, the movement creates a strike-strip fault. Because of famous strike-strip faults like San Andreas, it seems reasonable that the earthquake did take place. In fact, for some scientists there was concern about this earthquake happening. A professor emeritus in geoscience at Oregon State University stated only 6 days before the earthquake, “"If they have an earthquake on this
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