Rebuilding - 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.

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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?

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Is this for real? A new plan is circulating out there to rebuild not Haiti, but the Republic of Port-au-Prince for a reasonable cost of 3.3 billion dollars. Let me say it again. A new layout for the city of Port-au-Prince is estimated to cost $3,300,000,000,000.00. This plan that was developed by the Haitian Center for Research in Management and Development (CHRAD), was submitted to president Michel Martelly.

Can someone help me to understand this?

Where would the Haitian people find this kind of money in order to make Port-au-Prince the envy of Caribbean?

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The magnitude-7 earthquake in Haiti did not kill, but our buildings did. A five-person U.S. team evaluating the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12 says much of the massive loss of life might have been prevented.

The team, led by University of Washington structural engineering Professor Marc Eberhard, said its main conclusion was that much of the loss of life could have been prevented by using earthquake-resistant designs and construction, as well as improved quality control in concrete and masonry work.

The researchers recommended simple and cost-effective earthquake engineering be emphasized in Haiti's rebuilding effort.

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