2010 Haiti Earthquake With Chile

¶ … 2010 Haiti Earthquake with Chile Earthquake

Comparison of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake with the Chile Earthquake

In 2010, the earthquakes that struck Haiti and Chile would underscore two different situations surrounding equally devastating events. The difference was that the effects of the earthquake in Chile were not as severe. To fully understand why this occurred requires comparing the two earthquakes side by side. This will be accomplished by looking at the tectonic settings, the type of faults, the magnitude / intensity, casualties, the economic impact, recovery and possible lessons learned. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights as to the total impact that both earthquakes would have on the two nations.

Haiti

The main cause of any earthquake is: the rubbing of the tectonic plates against one another. What happens is pressure will build up on these plates, as the continents are moving around. In the case of Haiti, its earthquake was caused by the North American and the Caribbean tectonic plates rubbing against one another. What made this earthquake so devastating is that the epicenter was eight miles away Port Au Prince, Haiti (the capital) and it occurred at 5:00 PM (causing a 7.0 tremor on the Richter scale). As a fault plane slip distribution would occur. This is because Haiti is affected by oblique fault line. This is where, the plate can move in an up and down fashion. The total number of casualties was: 316 thousand people dead, 300 thousand injured and 1 million were displaced. The economic impact of the disaster is that it would grind the Haitian economy to halt and create a major humanitarian crisis. The lesson learned from the event are: the effects of the damage were made more serve by poor building construction in many areas of the country and it would highlight how the government was unprepared to deal with any kind of possible disasters that could occur. ("Quake Comparison") (Thurman) ("Types of Fault Lines")

Chile

The Chile earthquake was more devastating than the one in Haiti, as an intensity of 8.8 was recorded. The main cause of this quake, were the Pacific and South American tectonic plates rubbing against one another. Where, the oblique fault line would begin moving up and down against the two plates. The epicenter was over 80 miles away from any kind of population centers. The total number of casualties was 700 deaths and more than 2 million people were made homeless. The economic impact would be far less, as the damage was isolated mainly to collapsed buildings in various cities around the country. The recovery from these events was less severe. Part of the reason for this, is because Chile had learned from previous earthquakes in the past (which had devastating consequences for the country). At the same time, they were wealthier and these kinds of events were a main focus of the government (due to the frequency of them). (Bajak) ("Quake Comparison")