Explainer: Why are earthquakes so devastating in Haiti

The powerful earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday killed hundreds and injured thousands. The devastation comes just 11 years after the earthquake that killed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. The 2010 earthquake destroyed about 100,000 buildings.

As rescuers search for survivors in the Caribbean nation, here’s a look at why Haiti has experienced so many devastating earthquakes over the centuries and why they are often so devastating.

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What makes Haiti vulnerable to earthquakes?

The Earth’s crust is made up of moving tectonic plates. Haiti is located near the intersection of two of them – the North American plate and the Caribbean plate.

Multiple fault lines cut between those plates or near the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. What’s worse, not all of these fault lines behave the same way.

“Hispaniola is in a place where the plates go from smashing together to sliding over each other,” said Rich Briggs, a research geologist with the US Geological Survey’s Center for Geohazard Sciences.

“It’s like a rock stuck in the track of a sliding glass door,” he said. “He just doesn’t want it to move smoothly because it has so many different forces on it.”

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What caused the last earthquake?

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake likely occurred on Saturday along the Enriquillo Plantin fault zone, which runs through the Tiburon Peninsula in southwest Haiti, according to the US Geological Survey.

It is the same fault zone where the devastating 2010 earthquake occurred. It is likely the source of three other great earthquakes in Haiti between 1751 and 1860, two of which destroyed Port-au-Prince.

The earthquakes are the result of tectonic plates slowly moving against each other and creating friction over time, said Gavin Hayes, chief scientific advisor for earthquakes and geohazards at the US Geological Survey.

“That friction builds up and builds up, and eventually the strain stored there overcomes the friction,” Hayes said. “That’s when the fault suddenly moves. That’s what an earthquake is.”

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Why can earthquakes in Haiti be so devastating?

It’s a combination of factors that include a seismically active area, a high population density of 11 million people and buildings often designed to withstand hurricanes – not earthquakes.

Typical concrete and concrete block buildings can withstand strong winds but are prone to damage or collapse when the ground shakes. Poor building practices can also play a role.

The 2010 earthquake struck near the densely populated city of Port-au-Prince and caused widespread destruction. The Haitian government put the death toll at more than 300,000, while a report commissioned by the US government put the death toll at between 46,000 and 85,000.

“I think it’s important to realize that there is no such thing as a natural disaster,” said Wendy Bohon, a geologist at the Seismology Research Institutes Incorporated. “What you have is a natural hazard interfering with a weak system.”

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What does the future hold?

Geologists say they cannot predict the next earthquake.

“But we know that earthquakes like this can cause earthquakes of similar size in the next section of the fault,” said Hayes of the USGS. “It’s a very big risk in places that don’t have building practices to withstand vibration.”

Building more earthquake-resistant buildings remains a challenge in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Before Saturday’s earthquake, Haiti was still recovering from the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Its president was assassinated last month, sending the country into political chaos.

Mark Schuller, professor of anthropology and nonprofit and nongovernmental studies at Northern Illinois University, said that while there have been some success stories of Haitians building more earthquake-resistant structures, the country lacks a central effort to do so.

Haiti’s government is becoming increasingly weak, while NGOs focus on their fragmented projects.

“There is technical knowledge in Haiti. There are trained architects. There are city planners. The problem is a lack of funding for coordination, a lack of political will from donors (of organizations providing assistance).”

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