Hazard: Earthquake

Country: Haiti

H
[ Hazard ]
HAITI

Event Date

January 12, 2010

Moment Magnitude Scale (Mw)

7.0

Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI)

X (Extreme) at Petit Goave
X (Extreme) at Grand Goave
X (Extreme) at Gressier
IX (Violent) at Leogane
IX (Violent) at Carrefour
VIII (Severe) at Miragoane
VIII (Severe) at Port-au-Prince
VIII (Severe) at Delmas

Notable Features

• Depth: 8.1 miles (13 km)
• Time: 21:53:10 UTC
• Epicenter: 18.443°N, 72.571°W, 15 miles (25 km) SW of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
• Tectonic Feature: Enriquillo–Plantain Garden Fault Zone

Source(s)

US Geological Survey

Videos  Gallery 
Hazard: Earthquake

Country: Chile

H
[ Hazard ]
CHILE

Event Date

February 27, 2010

Moment Magnitude Scale (Mw)

8.8

Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI)

VIII (Severe) at Cabrero
VIII (Severe) at Arauco
VIII (Severe) at Tome
VIII (Severe) at Constitucion
VIII (Severe) at Concepcion
VIII (Severe) at Caranilahue

Notable Features

• Depth: 21.7 miles (35 km)
• Time: 06:34:14 UTC
• Epicenter: 35.909°S, 72.733°W, 65 miles (105 km) NE of Concepcion, Chile
• Tectonic Feature: Nazca and South American Plates
• Tsunami - Maximum Wave Height: 8.50 feet above sea level recorded in Valparaiso.

Source(s)

• US Geological Survey

Videos  Gallery 
Ex
[ Exposures ]
HAITI

Principal Area of Impact

Port-Au-Prince / Southwestern Haiti

Population Prior to the Event

4.459 Million Estimated (Southwestern Haiti)

Previous Year’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

$6.585 Billion USD (2009)

Previous Year’s Gross Domestic Product Per Capita

$674.30 USD (2009)

Source(s)

• US Geological Survey
• World Bank Group

Videos  Gallery 
Ex
[ Exposures ]
CHILE

Principal Area of Impact

Concepcion and Constitucion / Central Chile

Population Prior to the Event

13.656 Million Estimated (Central Chile)

Previous Year’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

$172.3 Billion USD (2009)

Previous Year’s Gross Domestic Product Per Capita

$10,141.60 USD (2009)

Source(s)

• US Geological Survey
• World Bank Group

Videos  Gallery 
V
[ Vulnerabilities ]
HAITI

Governance

World Bank Group Indicator –
Regulatory Quality (Percentile Rank):
20.1 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator -Government Effectiveness (Percentile Rank):
3.3 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator –
Rule of Law (Percentile Rank):
5.2 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator – Voice and Accountability (Percentile Rank):
29.9 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator – Political Stability and Absence of Violence (Percentile Rank):
16.6 (2009)

Corruption

World Bank Group Indicator – Control of Corruption (Percentile Rank):
11 (2009)

Transparency International Corruption Perception Index Score:
1.8 (2009)

Transparency International Corruption Perception Index Rank:
168 out of 180 (2009)

Development

World Bank Group - GINI Index:
Not Available

Human Development Index Score (HDI):
0.532 (2007)

Human Development Index Rank (HDI):
149 out of 182 (2007)

Source(s)

• World Bank Group
• Transparency International
• UNDP Human Development Report 2009

Videos  Gallery 
V
[ Vulnerabilities ]
CHILE

Governance

World Bank Group Indicator –
Regulatory Quality (Percentile Rank):
92.8 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator -Government Effectiveness (Percentile Rank):
85.2 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator –
Rule of Law (Percentile Rank):
87.7 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator – Voice and Accountability (Percentile Rank):
78.7 (2009)

World Bank Group Indicator – Political Stability and Absence of Violence (Percentile Rank):
67.3 (2009)

Corruption

World Bank Group Indicator – Control of Corruption (Percentile Rank):
89 (2009)

Transparency International Corruption Perception Index Score:
6.7 (2009)

Transparency International Corruption Perception Index Rank:
25 out of 180 (2009)

Development

World Bank Group - GINI Index:
52 (2009)

Human Development Index Score (HDI):
0.878 (2007)

Human Development Index Rank (HDI):
44 out of 182 (2007)

Source(s)

• World Bank Group
• Transparency International
• UNDP Human Development Report 2009

Videos  Gallery 
EmR
DR
CatR
[Risk]
HAITI

Total Affected Population

3,700,000

  • Total Deaths
    222,570
  • Injured
    300,000
  • Homeless
    Not Available

Total Damage

$8.72 Billon (In 2015 USD)

Source(s)

• EM-DAT
• CPI Inflation Calculator

Videos  Gallery 
EmR
DR
CatR
[Risk]
CHILE

Total Affected Population

2,671,556

  • Total Deaths
    562
  • Injured
    10,334
  • Homeless
    800,000

Total Damage

$32.7 Billion (In 2015 USD)

Source(s)

• EM-DAT
• CPI Inflation Calculator

Videos  Gallery 

Takeaways

The Haiti earthquake had a lower level of shaking for a shorter period of time than Chile.

Chile’s quake was 700 to 800 times stronger, but at a greater depth of 21.7 miles, compared to the shallow 8.1-mile depth of the Haiti quake, which contributed to much of the damage there. The extremely high death toll and level of damage in Haiti’s earthquake is directly attributable to the poor quality of buildings in the area.

These examples highlight the fact that magnitude alone does not determine what the experience of an earthquake will be. The intensity of shaking at any one moment does not grow significantly at the largest magnitudes. Rather, the duration of the shaking increases, and the area exposed to the strong shaking gets larger. The population exposed to the shaking, however, is equally important. Many of the Chilean officials said that they were surprised by the extent of the devastation because they know they had already experienced the largest earthquake in recorded history (the magnitude 9.5 event in 1960), and they thought that they should have been able to handle anything else that came along. However, the 1960 event was in the southernmost part of the country, which has a limited population, and did not approach the population exposure of the 2010 earthquake, which was located near Chile’s second largest city. Magnitude, proximity of population, and local soil conditions all play a role in determining the level of damage in an earthquake.

- Richard S. Olson, Ph.D.