Haiti earthquake: fault visible from Space

"Many land are inside the fault line and epicenter for the earthquake..we must also understand that even inside the core of the earth has a problem due to the cycle of the mantle and the second core in making holes to offer some lava to lessened the warmth inside the core."-Donabell C. De Apera

i don't buy that as a satellite image. but it does detail what your are advocating

Good Post, RAS.

ethicalvegan; there is no simple way to explain plate tectonics and the carribe is the most jumbled example to work with. there are so many layers of knowledge needed to get the big picture it is really best to take a city college geology course. the time spent is worthwhile and the information mind boggling and then there's the field trips, co-ed week long field trips.
that being said, i'll try to give a thumbnail sketch. the hard surface of the earth floats in large plates on top of a semi molten layer. there are two types of plates, one made of basalt is heavy and makes up the ocean basins, the other is made of granite and is lighter causing it to float higher above the oceans. the plates are in motion like giant bumper cars and collide constantly, some are dragged under and are remelted. the plates around the world are fairly evenly spaced and sized except in the gulf of mexico where it gets messy. the plate boundries are like an escher print with apparent movement in more than one direction. my reference to the dinosaur killer landing close by causing the disruption seems logical but i have done no research in this area. im sure there are others who have addressed this, the chicxulub asteroid left a layer of iridium dust around the world after all.

this is an area of very confusing geology. plate boundaries there can have more than one direction relative to other plates. i guess the scrambled nature of the area may be due to the nearby chicxulub event punching a hole in the crust.

I really appreciate your find of this article. The above enhanced photo at first confused me, but then I realized that I'm looking from West to East (not south to north, the way most map-readers do it).

That fault line is frighteningly obvious. Kind of like the one now being talked about in Kentucky, and very much like the San Andreas fault line here in the entire state of California.

Were the residents of Haiti in a financial position to re-build, surely they'd want to retrofit, as we did both in San Francisco and again in Los Angeles (after our two big earthquakes which, in retrospect, weren't even THAT bad, after all, when compared to the horrors of Haiti's earthquake and aftershocks).

For instance, when I finally had to replace my water heater, the new one had to be earthquake-protected. Huge straps and bolts, emergency shut-offs, etc., and an inspection to ensure it was done up to our latest earthquake standards. Then again, I live in a part of the country where -- although there are hundreds of thousands of poor people, as with anywhere else -- there are also enough super rich people, and super rich government officials to see to it that we are being retrofitted.

In fact, personally, I'm now ALMOST at the point where I don't quiver every time I drive over the high part of the 14/5 interchange where the freeways BROKE and crashed far below, taking along with them a motorcycle cop who blindly drove into the void.

Where could THAT kind of money come for these poor people? And would their government even bloody CARE?

People will need to be relocated -- although, particularly those with a religious bent -- will want to remain close to where they think their loved ones' bodies are. And where WOULD they go?! Who's going to provide for them? For their shelter? For their food and water? For their medical needs? Who's going to have the money to build them new hospitals? And again, since so many are religious, who's going to provide for the rebuilding of the churches and other houses of worship they feel a need to have? And how will those people even GET to these new places?

We folks in the "greater" Los Angeles area couldn't move. We couldn't AFFORD to. Yes, some immediately moved out, and I mean by the first week, while our earth was still rattling substantially. But I sure as hell couldn't afford to pack up and move.

Ah, enough. I'm just appreciative of this article, and so thank you for submitting it.

Those poor, poor INNOCENT people......................

There is a similar fault line that goes through western Ky. There was a massive earthquake there in the 1800s and it's predicted there will be another before too many years. There's not one single thing anyone can do to stop it. Bad shit happens all the time. It's called LIFE, and there's no guarantee we'll always be safe from Mother Nature.

Just why should I send them money? I know folks right around this area that need help. The goverment does nothing for them because they live here in the land of plenty. To bad the Goverment thinks more of others than the people that live here.

Wow, will it even be possible for people to live here now? Where would the population be evacuated to if it had to be done and could it be done?

[Rhetorical] How does a developing country prepare for this type of event when the structures are prior built, even with a 2 year warning? If evacuation is the answer, there were no sufficient warnings as with with tropical cyclones. Restructuring and reinforcing the buildings may have helped but the finances would have taken serious global investments and convincing [see above comment from ras_menelik]: "The earthquake in Northridge, Calif., on Jan. 17, 1994, did an estimated $20 billion in damage -- in 1994 dollars. It would be closer to $29 billion when inflation is factored in.]...