Haiti Flashcards
Where is Haiti?
An island in the Caribbean
What natural hazard struck Haiti?
earthquake
Which two tectonic plates were involved?
- Caribbean plate
- North American plate
What type of plate boundary caused the Haiti earthquake
conservative plate boundary
what is a conservative plate boundary?
two plates move past each other in different directions
Explain the 6 stages causing the Haiti earthquake
- The North American plate & Caribbean plate slide past each other in opposite directions at a Conservative plate boundary
- This time, the plates got stuck
- This caused the Earth’s crust to bend
- This built up friction putting pressure on the crust
- The pressure was released, snapping the crust back into place
- This sudden movement created seismic waves across Earth
- The seismic waves resulted in the earthquake
describe seismic waves
- waves of energy
- created by rock suddenly breaking
- start at the focus and then spread out
- strongest at the focus
What was the magnitude on the Richter scale?
7 on the Richter scale
‘major’
Where was the epicentre?
(point on the Earth’s surface above the focus)
25km from the capital city
Port au Prince
How close was the focus to the Earth’s surface
(the point inside the crust where the pressure is released)
13km deep
‘very close’
How long did it last?
< 1 minute
How many after-shocks were there?
52 after-shocks
4.5+
over 12 days
When did it happen?
12 January 2010
16.53 (early evening)
How many people died?
230,000
How many people were injured?
300,000
How many people became homeless
1.5 MILLION
