JANUARY 12 - HAITI EARTHQUAKE

By Debbie Bulloch




As we all by now know, on January 12, a massive earthquake struck Haiti just before 5:00 p.m. (local time), The quake’s epicenter was located about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, the country's capital. The quake was the worst in the region in more than 200 years. The day after the quake Haiti's president, René Préval, called the destruction "unimaginable.'' About three million people -- a third of the country's population -- have been affected.

The quake has left the country in shambles, without electricity or phone service, making it difficult to coordinate efforts to provide relief. Attempts, by Haitian and international agencies, to provide emergency services and distribute food and water were halting and, in some places, seemingly nonexistent.



More than 30 significant aftershocks of a 4.5 magnitude (in the Ritcher Scale) or higher rattled Haiti in the hours immediately following the earthquake. According to Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey.

Huge portions of the capital, Port-au-Prince, lay in ruins, and hundreds of thousands of people were feared dead in the rubble left behind by the earthquake. Human limbs protruded from piles of disintegrated concrete, and muffled cries emanated from deep inside the wrecks of buildings, as this impoverished nation struggled to grasp the grim, still unknown toll.


Aid agencies from around have begun the massive relief effort. Agencies already in Haiti said they would open their storehouses of food and water there, and the World Food Program was flying in nearly 100 tons of ready-to-eat meals and high-energy biscuits from El Salvador. The United Nations said it was freeing up $10 million in emergency relief funds, the European Union pledged $4.4 million, and groups like Doctors Without Borders were setting up clinics in tents and open-air triage centers to treat the injured.

President Obama said that United States aid agencies were moving swiftly to get help to Haiti and that search-and-rescue teams were already en route. In addition to governmental and corporate aid, the President has urged individual Americans to dig into their pockets and to go to the White House’s official website to find ways to donate money.



The Caribbean is not usually considered a seismic danger zone, but earthquakes have struck here in the past. Haiti sits on a large fault that has caused catastrophic quakes in the past, but this one was described as among the most powerful to hit the region.

The fault is similar in structure to the San Andreas Fault that slices North – South through California. The San Andreas Fault was the cause of the 8.0 magnitude 1906 earthquake that destroyed the city of San Francisco.



The earthquake that struck Haiti last Tuesday will be a tragedy of near-epic proportions. Haiti is, by far, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Four out of five Haitians live in poverty - more than half live in abject poverty. Deforestation and over-farming have left much of Haiti eroded and barren, driving up food prices and leaving the country even more vulnerable to natural disasters. Its long history of political instability and corruption has added to the turmoil.

I have lived all my life in California where earthquakes are a natural part of the landscape. In fact, much of California’s rugged beauty - from its seaside cliffs to its towering mountains - has been shaped by eons of tectonic activity. I lived in the San Fernando Valley (just northwest of Los Angeles) when the 1994 Northridge Earthquake struck in the early hours of January 17. That earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7 in the Richter Scale and cause massive damage throughout the region.
In California, unlike Haiti, the government has for years been engaged in a massive campaign to make the state, and its population, as “earthquake-safe” as it is possible given current technologies. The people of Haiti, however, are not as fortunate.

Accordingly, the destruction and devastation caused by the January 12 earthquake will affect a wider, and deeper, sector of the island’s population. I strongly encourage you to go online and visit the sites of various relief agencies who are working to help the people of Haiti during these difficult times.



Assistance comes in many different ways; you can donate food and clothing to the Red Cross, you can make cash donation to groups like Mèdecins Sans Frontières, you could even donate pet food and supplies to the rescue groups who use search dogs to look for buried victims. There is no limit to the ways we can help – just don’t stand idly by while there are people who are in need of your help.

Thank you.

A NOTE ABOUT THE RITCHER SCALE

Developed in 1935 by Charles Richter in partnership with Beno Gutenberg, both of the California Institute of Technology, the scale was first intended to be used only in a particular study area in California, and on seismograms recorded on a particular instrument, the Wood-Anderson torsion seismometer. Richter originally reported values to the nearest quarter of a unit, but decimal numbers were used later. His motivation for creating the local magnitude scale was to separate the vastly larger number of smaller earthquakes from the few larger earthquakes observed in California at the time.

The Richter magnitude scale, also known as the local magnitude (ML) scale, assigns a single number to quantify the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale obtained by calculating the logarithm of the combined horizontal amplitude of the largest displacement from zero on a Wood–Anderson torsion seismometer output. So, for example, an earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times larger than one that measures 4.0. The effective limit of measurement for local magnitude ML is about 6.8.

WHAT THE MAGNITUDE NUMBERS MEAN

Richter magnitudes-Description-Earthquake effects-Frequency of occurrence

Less than 2.0 Micro Microearthquakes, not felt. About 8,000 per day

2.0-2.9 Minor Generally not felt, but recorded. About 1,000 per day

3.0-3.9 Often felt, but rarely causes damage. 49,000 per year (est.)

4.0-4.9 Light Noticeable shaking of indoor items, rattling noises. Significant damage unlikely. 6,200 per year (est.)

5.0-5.9 Moderate Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At most slight damage to well-designed buildings. 800 per year

6.0-6.9 Strong Can be destructive in areas up to about 160 kilometres (100 mi) across in populated areas. 120 per year

7.0-7.9 Major Can cause serious damage over larger areas. 18 per year

8.0-8.9 Great Can cause serious damage in areas several hundred miles across. 1 per year

9.0-9.9 Devastating in areas several thousand miles across. 1 per 20 years

10.0+ Epic Never recorded; see below for equivalent seismic energy yield. Extremely rare (Unknown)

IMAGES FROM THE 1994 NORTHRIDGE (CALIFORNIA) MAGNITUDE 6.7 EARTHQUAKE









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