Earthquake - Haiti Observer Blog

Haiti lies right on the boundary of the Caribbean and North American plates. Earthquakes typically occur along the jigsaw-puzzle pieces of Earth's crust, called plates, which move relative to one another, most of the time at an imperceptibly slow pace. These plates move around 2 cm per year. These movements cause seismic movement along active fault lines which have been identified in two main areas of the country. In the case of the Haiti quake, the Caribbean and North American plates slide past one another in an east-west direction. This is known as a strike-slip boundary. The first of these is in the sea, along the North coast. This fault line runs from East to West and extends into the Cibao valley in the Dominican Republic.

Read more →  

A violent 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador last Sunday morning. The death toll has soared to 272 and Vice President Jorge Glas had estimated that more than 2,527 people were injured. There have been reports of extensive damage in the southwest of the country such as Guayaquil and coastal Manabi Province where it is hard to reach the victims. The cities of Manta, Portoviejo and Pedernales were the most devastation but he entire country is affected.

There is a large Haitian community living in Ecuador and some of them are expected to be among the victims of this 7.8 magnitude earthquake. According to the most recent estimates, more than 30,000 Haitians are living in Ecuador. So far, not many relatives and friends have heard about them.

Read more →  

Nouvo akizasyon te pibliye pa depatman Jistis nan Etazini nan yon kolaborasyon ak lapolis Swis. Kèk ofisyèl FIFA tankou Ansyen FIFA egzekitif Jack Warner, Jeffrey Webb, Alfredo Hawit ak Juan Angel Napout yo akize yo pou dwèt longue Siperyè. Moun sa yo akize pou vòlè $ 750,000 dedye pou moun ki te viktim tranbleman tè Ayiti an.

Jack Warner detounen $750,000 ke FIFA ak foutbòl Asosyasyon Koreyen te bay pou viktim yo. Pandan ke yo deja arete Alfredo Hawit ak Juan Angel NapoutSe Aranjman, yo ape travay pou ekstradisyon Jack Warner soti nan Trinidad pou Etazini.

Read more →  

Little Haiti in Miami will continue to be a reference for the Haitian community. This connection will be more obvious in the near future as the Miami Mountains Foundation plans to transform a Little Haiti median with its "Ayiti, Land of High Mountains" public art display.

Miami-Dade County just approved the funding for a project to transform an underused road median in Little Haiti area on NE second Avenue with vibrant public art demonstrating Haiti as a land of high mountains. This public art display will be one more reason to make Little Haiti a tourist destination, will be there on a permanent basis

Read more →  

As per the BBC report dated Tuesday, June 9 2015, the former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner is being investigated over the disappearance of money intended for victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The former FIFA President visited Haiti following the 2010 earthquake and pledged $750,000 from football's world governing body and the South Korean Football Association to support the reconstruction program in the country. FIFA contributed $250,000 and $500,000 was paid by the South Korean Football Association by the courtesy of one of their patrons, South Korean businessman Chung Mong-Joon. The Haitian authority claims that they have received only $60,000 from Mr. Warner, as the then head of CONCACAF. A team of U.S investigators have found that the fund was ultimately transferred to a personal account controlled by Mr. Warner himself; and whereabouts of the earthquake fund is still unknown. The source has also indicated that there are about 75 bank accounts, directly or indirectly connected to Mr. Warner, but none of them clearly indicates any location of the fund.

Read more →  

No Cholera Cases so far after Nepal 2015 Earthquake. Nepal has been devastated by a monumental earthquake, and conditions are such a cholera outbreak could happen. A death count of more than 7,000 people has been reported with another 14,000 or so injured.

The earthquake has set up a scenario precluding the start of a cholera epidemic. Migratory survivors of the quake, living in streets or a shelter, cause disorder in water and sanitation systems' normal operations. Once underway, cholera's symptomatic and incessant diarrhea pollutes the water supply, setting the stage for more people and communities to become infected.

Read more →  

According to Caribbean Journal, Friday night (3/21/13) around 9:11 PM, a major earthquake hit the area north of the city of Les Cayes. This was based of information from United States Geological Survey.

The epicenter of the quake was located between Petit Trou de Nippes and Les Cayes. The United States Geological data recorded its dept to be 6 kilometer.

No injuries or death have been reported so far.

Ginyin yon "Goudou Goudou ki passe yer soir antre Petit Trou de Nippes and Ocaye. Tranbleman Tè sa mesire 4.5.

Nou ponko gin infomasyon si ginyin moun ki mouri oubyen blese.

Read more →  

When the news of the ascension of Bishop Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes as the first Haitian Cardinal reached Haiti on Sunday 12 January, the Haitian people and the local Catholic Church were both surprised and happy. The Haitians got their first Cardinal exactly on the same day when four years ago a terrible earthquake took hundreds of thousands lives in Haiti. Bishop Chibly Langlois is the president of the Haitian bishops' who is respected by Haitians for his immense service in the post earthquake era in Haiti.

Haiti is the place where most of the poorest of the poor live in western hemisphere. Many of us do not remember that this is the place in America where the Cross of Jesus Christ was first placed. On 6 December, 1492, Christopher Columbus along with his other European companions when arrived on this island, to bring the land under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, his first act was to plant a cross on the beach at Môle St. Nichola and establish the first Spanish colony on the island.

Read more →  

The Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe on 10th January, just before the fourth anniversary of the massive earthquake in Haiti, has submitted a progress report on rebuilding of the country by his government. The Haitian Prime Minister while addressing a group of journalists on this occasion was accompanied by senior government officials. He described an outline of the country's rebuilding efforts on different areas like construction, housing, education and tourism since the devastating quake.

The Prime Minister through a visual representation demonstrated how the affected people living in settlements were rehabilitated in over 5,000 newly constructed homes. The journalists were also informed about the different aspects on country's economic progress like influx of over 70,000 tourists in last year, distribution of seed kits to the farmers and blooming of Haitian economy during the process of reconstruction. Following the talk, in a brief interview to the Associated Press, the Prime Minister Lamothe expressed his satisfaction over the whole process considering the enormous initial challenges and lack of resources.

Read more →  

January 12 will mark the fourth anniversary of Haiti earthquake where an estimated three million people were affected. The Death toll was estimated between 220,000 and 316,000 and the Haitian government estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000commercial buildings were either collapsed or severely damaged. On Friday, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe delivered a progress report as we are approaching the fourth anniversary of the earthquake and estimated that the rebuilding effort has gone from very well to enormously well.

Is this your opinion as well? Do you think the rebuilding effort so far has gone not well at all, to some how well, very well or enormously well?

Read more →