Earthquake in Haiti

Jasper · **on:** January 12, 2010, 11:41:11 PM

The Earthquake was rated at 7.0 and most of the buildings there sustained severe damage.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/...uake/index.html

Man 2010 didn't start off well.

raga · **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2010, 01:36:54 AM

I've been following this, its a real bad one. I just hope the damage isn't as bad as many have been speculating.

Mumbling · **Reply #2 on:** January 13, 2010, 02:22:32 AM

Hmm bah. Hope that not too many people will lose their lives!

Noname · **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:26:57 AM

It's all over the news. This is a MAJOR disaster! Like Hurricane Katrina, but in a third-world country... AND there were many aftershocks! I can only pray that the death toll isn't some sorta record. :blink:

MrDrake · **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:30:24 AM

Missed out on the news today, and I usually do watch it when I remember it's on. But man, just from hearing about it sucks, I mean, still more or less in the new year, and a 7.0 on the earthquake scale too....

Cancerian Tiger · **Reply #5 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:33:12 AM

That's an awfully powerful level for an earthquake to reach

. I just pray not too many lives were lost. Of course I always hope there are no deaths as a result of these disasters, but I suppose that's unrealistic thinking

.

Nick22 · **Reply #6 on:** January 13, 2010, 11:03:08 AM

7.0 is high, but is 2 orders of magnitude weaker than the earthquake which prodiced the killer tsunami in Indonesia in 2004. given Haiti's poverty, and pictures of destroyed buildings, i'd say the death toll will be in 6 figures, possibly higher than the 230,000 killed by the tsunami. remember Haiti is is a densely populated and very poor country. the buildings there are not built to endure an earthquake of any size let alone a big one like a 7.0. the earthquake was located close to Port Au Prince and was shallow meaning the buildings on the surface got more of the impact than if it had been underwater or deeper in the earth.

LBTFan13 · **Reply #7 on:** January 13, 2010, 02:56:14 PM

It is a real shame to hear such tragedy. To top it off, it is speculated to have been worse than an actual warzone in terms of the damage done. My best wishes go out to the people of Haiti as they hopefully recover from this disaster.

Jasper · **Reply #8 on:** January 13, 2010, 02:57:54 PM

Part of my family has relatives that lives where the earthquake was. We have no contact or any communication what so ever. My mom can't even look at the T.V because of what she saw and the phones at my house are going to start ringing off the hook too. This is chaos.

Mumbling · **Reply #9 on:** January 13, 2010, 03:02:42 PM

Aw Jasper, I sure hope they are okay! I can't say much more but than I really hope that they are, and that I'll pray for them.

Chiletrek · **Reply #10 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:21:35 PM

Hello:
I saw the news and it was awful. I know what it means an earthquake, a disaster which there is no way to predict... it suddenly strikes and all you could ever do is to hope for the best.
I hope things will get better for them and that help will arrive soon

.

Cancerian Tiger · **Reply #11 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:33:18 PM

I'm sorry to hear that, Jasper

. I hope they're okay. I don't live in an earthquake-prone area, so I've never been in one, but they sure do look scary.

Noname · **Reply #12 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:33:30 PM

Now they're saying that hundreds of thousands could have died. :blink:

I for one am hoping that that is wrong. Everyone, hope that that is wrong. Really!

Jasper · **Reply #13 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:42:42 PM

Some family members are now freaking out and I can hear my mom on the phone right now talking to one of them.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #14 on:** January 13, 2010, 05:44:07 PM

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if the death toll was half a million. Haiti is so densely populated and the buildings aren't exactly taken care of. Not to mention the people probably weren't that educated as in what to do in the event of an earthquake.

Kor · **Reply #15 on:** January 13, 2010, 06:05:25 PM

The loss of live will likely be very high, for the reasons said above. I hope things turn out better then some think and they get the help they need quick.

Cancerian Tiger · **Reply #16 on:** January 13, 2010, 06:22:38 PM

Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Jan 13 2010 on 04:44 PM

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if the death toll was half a million. Haiti is so densely populated and the buildings aren't exactly taken care of. Not to mention the people probably weren't that educated as in what to do in the event of an earthquake.

Not to mention the country's so poor they probably don't have a warning system. I'm not sure how the warning systems work :unsure:. They'd probably give folks some time to react but not much

.

The Chronicler · **Reply #17 on:** January 13, 2010, 08:33:18 PM

Some time after I first heard about this, I thought "Okay, Haiti definitely looks devastated, but what about Dominican Republic? Those two countries are on the same island, after all." Then I recently found a map on Wikipedia that showed where the epicenter of the earthquake was, which seemed to be only 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. No wonder there's so much attention on the damage in that city. Especially since many of the structures in that country were already structurally unsafe under normal conditions, based on what I've heard. (I also heard that Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, which is why those buildings were in such terrible condition even before the earthquake.)

Jasper · **Reply #18 on:** January 13, 2010, 11:01:50 PM

They are going to have to rebuild Port-au-Prince from scratch all over again so it will be able to survive another major earthquake and if not other disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, and any other disaster I can think of. So far we still have no contact from anyone yet. Phones are going to be ringing for a while with people talking. My dad is going to make a donation and so am I.

Nick22 · **Reply #19 on:** January 14, 2010, 12:45:31 AM

The worst part will not be the death toll from the earthquake itself, which will be horrific enough, but the toll due to infections disase and untreated injuries. which could be even worse. the longer people are trapped under rubble the chances of their survival diminishes..