The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: Jasper on January 12, 2010, 11:41:11 PM
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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 (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/12/haiti.earthquake/index.html)
Man 2010 didn't start off well.
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I've been following this, its a real bad one. I just hope the damage isn't as bad as many have been speculating.
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Hmm bah. Hope that not too many people will lose their lives! :(
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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:
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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....
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That's an awfully powerful level for an earthquake to reach :o. 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 :neutral.
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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.
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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.
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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.
:( :bang :cry :cry
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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.
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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 :( .
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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.
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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!
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Some family members are now freaking out and I can hear my mom on the phone right now talking to one of them.
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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.
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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.
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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 :neutral.
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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.)
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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.
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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..
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It is a horrible disaster that hit the poorest of all countries in the western hemisphere. I hope your folks are alright Jasper :(
Unfortunately there is no real earthquake warning system comparable to the rather accurate predictions of volcanic eruptions. While they are able to predict where earthquakes are likely to strike (it is not the question if, but when a big earthquake will strike for example the cities of San Francisco and Istanbul) they are not yet able to predict the time when the earthquake will strike.
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Hello:
Malte is correct, there is no way to predict when an Earthquake will strike, as scientist can only measure the ammount of energy and tension accumulated between the tectonic plates. That is how they have predicted that a major event will strike in my own zone eventually.
I hope the help will arrive, and keep arriving to Haiti with no problems. And I also hope your relatives are safe Jasper.
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I am taking a geographical hazards course as the final course for my minor (Environmental Studies), and we discussed this earthquake yesterday. It turns out that the capital city (and most densely populated area of Haiti) sits right above a fault, which is the worst place to be in an earthquake 'cuz it is where the strength is most intense. The instructor showed us a map of this on his Powerpoint, but sadly does not have the Powerpoint uploaded for the students so I can't post the map here.
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I got some good news only. Some relatives survived, but they did get cuts on their heads, but they'll be okay though.
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That's good to hear, Jasper :yes!
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Good news Jasper. :)
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This was so bad I don't believe they will survive another natural dieaster in the future imagine hurricane season for 2010.
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If anyone wishes to make a donation or something, I'm sure you could ask around at a local community center or church. My church is putting together packages to send there that include basic items like soap and tooth brushes.
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Gah! More bad news: I just read a headline saying that scientists are warning Haitians to be ready for more earthquakes this year :o! Since what I had said in my post about the fault is true, I guess more are bound and determined to hit eventually. My thoughts and prayers go out to Haiti, and hopefully no more earthquakes to this magnitude will hit them :(.
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But does "some relatives" mean that you don't have word of all of them yet Jasper? I really really hope that all of your relatives are save.
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Damn, sad that it always hits the poorest. I followed this over the news. Also if the people get food and water, they can¥t make sure that everyone get¥s his/her foot and water. It¥s just sad..
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ignore
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But does "some relatives" mean that you don't have word of all of them yet Jasper? I really really hope that all of your relatives are save.
I've gotten confirmation from my dad that everyone is now okay. It's sad to know that they now have to sleep outside on the ground with hundreds of thousands of other people due to their homes not being inhabitable for a while.
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I've gotten confirmation from my dad that everyone is now okay. It's sad to know that they now have to sleep outside on the ground with hundreds of thousands of other people due to their homes not being inhabitable for a while.
At least their okay, thats the first concern
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Did anyone else hear anything about the magnitude-6.1 aftershock that hit Haiti :blink:? Just when things could not get bad enough...
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I know! I was horrified to hear that not only had Haiti been hit with the biggest quake they've had for 200 years...they get an aftershock that measures nearly as high as their initial quake! :o The poor souls :( At least aid is actually arriving there now. Donations have been pouring in from every corner so at least they have support in that respect. Apparently, Guatemala had a tremor too at some stage this week. Just hope that those made homeless by the quake can hold out long enough for their homes to be reconstructed. :neutral Still, a very sad event.
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A few days ago, I checked Google Maps and I noticed that the satellite images of Port-au-Prince had just recently been updated to show the aftermath of the earthquake. You can see damaged buildings (particularly the National Palace) and canvases that show where all the homeless people have been staying (mostly parks and stadiums).
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Hugo Chavez claims that a US weapon test caused the earthquake in Haiti. Yeah, that's right, Hugo. We evil greedy Americans caused a massive earthquake in poor little Haiti just so we could turn around and spend billions of dollars on foreign aid and military resources. Idiot... :rolleyes:
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Here's a short video I found on Yahoo about a 7 year old boy who raised money for Haiti.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633...60-000-17809551 (http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/boy-bikes-for-haiti-raises-160-000-17809551)
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I read that in the newspaper this morning Kacie! It's quite wonderful that he brought up such an amount of money!
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I saw that on CNN. I hope it makes a difference. Even if this did nothing else, it helped to keep people aware of the constant suffering in Haiti. And that is a lot of money.