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Natural Hazards Research

Haiti earthquake of January 12, 2010

• On 12 January 2010 Haiti was struck by a violent earthquake; its epicenter was located nearby the capital city of Port-au-Prince. According to the latest information, the number of casualties in the city alone ranges from 100,000 to 150,000 (CNN, 17.01.2010). Our hearts go out to those in Haiti who have suffered losses of loved people and personal properties during the earthquake disaster.

•   Haiti earthquake   \\   Causalties   \\   Humanitarian response

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• A message from the Natural Hazards Focus Group Chair, Dr. Alik Ismail-Zadeh

  Natural Hazards, Disasters and Society

  Humans face natural hazards at different scales in time and space. The hazards affect life and health; they have a dramatic impact on the sustainability of society, especially in societies that are vulnerable because of their geographic location, poverty, or both. The first decade of the 21st century has been marked by a significant number of natural disasters, such as floods (e.g., in West and Central Europe in 2002), hurricanes (e.g., Katrina in 2005), earthquakes (Aceh-Sumatra in 2004, Kashmir in 2005, Sichuan in 2008) accompanied by landslides, tsunami (Indian Ocean in 2004, killed 230,000), wildfires (in California and Australia), etc.
  
  On 12 January 2010 Haiti was struck by a violent earthquake; its epicenter was located nearby the capital city of Port-au-Prince. According to the latest information, the number of casualties in the city alone ranges from 100,000 to 150,000 (CNN, 17.01.2010). Our hearts go out to those in Haiti who have suffered losses of loved people and personal properties during the earthquake disaster.
  
  Obviously, humans will never be able to prevent the occurrences of natural phenomena entirely. However, scientists are able to gain a better understanding of the complex mechanisms that cause the disasters and to deliver their knowledge to disaster management agencies in order to be prepared to cope with such extreme events. Haiti was not prepared to cope with the large earthquake, although geophysicists warned about the next big event (Manaker et al., Geophys. J. Int., 174, 889-903, 2008).
  
  "The tendency to reduce the funding for preventive disaster management of natural catastrophes rarely follows the rules of responsible stewardship for future generations neither in developing countries nor in highly developed economies" (Ismail-Zadeh and Takeuchi, Nat. Hazards, 42, 459-467, 2007). The investment to avoid losses tends not to be easily accepted in political decision making as compared with that to gain positive benefits. It is because the benefit of preventing losses, however long lasting it is, is not easily visible while the positive benefit is obvious and can easily be agreed by people. A large investment is made, when a big disaster due to an earthquake occurs, and the investment decreases till the next large earthquake. If about 5 to 10% of the funds, necessary for recovery and rehabilitation after a disaster, would be spent to mitigate an anticipated extreme event, it could in effect save lives, constructions, and other resources.
  
  Scientists must act today and implement state-of-the-art measures to protect society from rare but recurrent extreme natural catastrophes. Otherwise we will witness again and again the tragic aftermaths of disaster, which could have been avoided.
  
  

  Alik Ismail-Zadeh

  Chair, AGU Natural Hazards Focus Group

• Science information on the Haiti earthquake

  American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

  American Geophysical Union (AGU)

  Geological Society of America (GSA)

  Purdue University

  University of Texas at Austin

  University of Alaska Fairbanks: the 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake seismogram

  U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

  USGS Press release

  USGS: M7.0 Haiti Earthquake and Aftershocks

  USGS-WHOI_DPRI Coulomb Stress Transfer Model for the 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake

  Science Magazine

  Physics Today

  The Guardian

  USGS Earthquake Hazards program -- poster

  Haiti's Earthquake: Prevention and Preparedness Woefully Low

  Nature: Geologists to evaluate future Haiti risks

  Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France

  Geoscope

  European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre

  Bureau des Mines et de l'Energie, Haiti (in French)

  U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction - Global Task Force on Building Codes

• Additional information

  American Geophysical Union (AGU) -- Position Statement “Meeting the Challenges of Natural Hazards”

  International Council for Science (ICSU) -- Statement “Science and Natural Hazards”

  ICSU Position Paper on Natural Disaster Reduction

  International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) -- “Budapest Manifesto on Risk Science and Sustainability”

  Preventive Disaster Management of Extreme Natural Events

  Recommendation on earthquake hazard assessment in the countries of the Caribbean region, by Harsh K. Gupta

ShakeMap is a courtesy of USGS, see other USGS maps for the 2010 Haiti earthquake.