Earthquake ravages Port Au Prince Haiti

[worth]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

CBC said Haiti is Canada's largest recipient of foreign aid - is this true?

I couldnt believe it, I figured it was some hole in Africa. If it is Haiti then good on the Canadian Government for reinvesting Canadian tax dollars into our hemisphere. Its too bad its in the condition that it is. It would be a nice vacation spot rather than going to dives like Cuba or the Dominican.

You know Canada sent soldiers and RCMP there just a few years ago when the Hatian coup was taking place?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haitian_rebellion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MINUSTAH

[GoinAllTheWay]

My g/f just landed in the Dominican Republic yesterday, FANTASTIC to hear about this earthquake later last night. She said it hadn't affected them at all so anyone with family/friends in DR, they should be OK.

[dj_patm]

Originally Posted by Jayems

Did i hear that right? 11 US peacekeepers killed so far?

Killed in the quake or killed by the commotion and violence that followed (if any did follow)

[Jayems]

The quake, presumably.

[Art Vandelay]

Three Canadian police officers are unaccounted for as a team of 20 Canadian disaster relief personnel head to Haiti to assess the impoverished Caribbean nation in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake that has levelled much of the country and likely killed thousands.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Mo...727/story.html

[Jayems]

Haiti prime minister expects death toll to top 100,000.

100 UN workers missing.

Most of the capital is destroyed.

[OBCT]

geez. that's ugly.

[Playfair]

It is very sad. The country is so poor, and they don't have the building codes that we do either, or other countries, and that made it all that much worse. From what I understand it is mostly concrete, and a guy was on the radio this morning saying that they don't reinforce the concrete properly and things are kind of thrown together. It makes it all that much worse. The fact that they had an earthquake that size, but then the fact that it hit a poorly constructed city like that.
THey were saying on the radio all through the night they could here people crying out for help, but nobody can help them. They don't have the services. So sad and terrible.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Brutal. If the reported estimate holds true, then 100,000 people equals 1% of their country's population. That's staggering.

[troutman]

Is there a major fault line through the Caribbean?

Looks like the area is in the middle of a smaller plate:

http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/...aultlines.html

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/amer...y/1421900.html

Although earthquakes are typically associated with the West Coast, the Caribbean is actually a seismically active area, where plates and fault lines are still shifting below the surface.

``That's how you got all the islands in the first place,'' said Dale Grant, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center near Denver.

The actual quake appears to have occurred along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault, a virtually immovable rock that runs from Montego Bay in Jamaica to the southern part of the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. That vertical fault is pushed by the Caribbean Plate, a unsettled land mass that moves about 20 millimeters east each year.

[GirlySports]

Yup 100,000, could be still climbing.
Buildings were not built well, too many shortcuts. (corruption)
It seems that the UN mission chief in Haiti likely died, as apparently did several Medicin Sans Frontieres workers

More pictures here

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by troutman

Is there a major fault line through the Caribbean?

There was a 7.1 quake off the Honduras island of Roatan in May. It was deeper than this one so it did less serious damage but did shake things up pretty good on land and in the ocean it did some damage to the reef.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

CBC said Haiti is Canada's largest recipient of foreign aid - is this true?

I couldnt believe it, I figured it was some hole in Africa. If it is Haiti then good on the Canadian Government for reinvesting Canadian tax dollars into our hemisphere. Its too bad its in the condition that it is. It would be a nice vacation spot rather than going to dives like Cuba or the Dominican.

The Dominican is on the same chunk of land, so I kinda doubt Haiti would be significantly nicer ... and have you been to the Dominican? It's beautiful.

Originally Posted by flylock shox

Ravages?

It seems there's been an awful lot of big earthquakes over the last decade or so. Maybe I've only just been paying attention recently though.

It always seems to be the poorest places too...

Probably a mixture of most of the world being quite poor and poor countries populated with cheaply constructed buildings (which appears to be the case here). A 7.0 would do crazy damage to a city built to withstand earthquakes, I can't imagine what it could do to a country made of poorly constructed concrete buildings.

[North East Goon]

wow those pictures are mind-blowing. Good to see many around the world are on their way to help these people out.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Russic

Probably a mixture of most of the world being quite poor and poor countries populated with cheaply constructed buildings (which appears to be the case here). A 7.0 would do crazy damage to a city built to withstand earthquakes, I can't imagine what it could do to a country made of poorly constructed concrete buildings.

Yeah. Those buildings look like they would fall over during the best of times let alone in a 7.0 earthquake

Calgary's not on a fault line (I don't think) so our buildings are ok. The World Series earthquake was a 7.0 and all buildings seemed to be ok. It was the bridges that collapsed.

[corporatejay]

As always, Boston.com with some great/awful photos.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/201..._in_haiti.html

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

As always, Boston.com with some great/awful photos.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/201..._in_haiti.html

Psst, Post #31 by Girlysports.

[J pold]

100,000 people dead? That is so tremendously sad, unbelievable tragic. I herd on the radio this morning Port Au Prince is a city with an infrastructure suited for 250,000 people with 2.5 million living in it.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by J pold

100,000 people dead? That is so tremendously sad, unbelievable tragic. I herd on the radio this morning Port Au Prince is a city with an infrastructure suited for 250,000 people with 2.5 million living in it.

Yeah that's quite common in poor 3rd world countries.
You could have a family of 4 living in a room that's 20 square metres.

[Blaster86]

They're saying the death toll could hit as high as 500,000 before this is said and done. Terrible, just terrible.