Hiati Earthquake of 12 January 2010, Mw7
Six years ago, on January 12, 2010 (at 16:53:10 local time), a catastrophic earthquake with Mw=7 almost destroyed Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The earthquake was located at 18.443°N and 72.571°W with 15 km depth and was immediately followed by two large aftershocks of magnitude 5.9 and 5.5. When the earthquake shook Haiti, an estimated 316,000 people were killed, 300,000 people were injured and 1.5 million (about 25% of Haiti’s population) left homeless. In south of Haiti and Port au Prince, about 97,294 houses were completely destroyed and 188,383 houses faced damages.
Haiti is ranked 145th in the Human Development Index (HDI) world ranking. The estimated damages caused by the 2010 earthquake is $14 billion which is about 2 times greater than the country’s GDP in 2009. The 2010 event occurred just 25 kilometers south of the capital and almost disrupted all activities in Haiti. The heavy damages and large number of casualties was perhaps due to lack of proper infrastructures and facilities in the country. Haiti was not ready for the earthquake because the previous large earthquake had occurred in this country over 200 years ago. In addition, due to other economic problems and challenges, protection against earthquakes was not considered as the most important priorities of the country’s issues.
