Haiti Rocked by Major Catastrophic 7.3 Earthquake

(SALEM, Ore.) - An earthquake with preliminary magnitude 7.3 occurred in the Haiti region at 5:53 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time on January 12th, 2010, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

According to reports from the area, damage to the densely crowded capital city of 2 million people was apparently widespread.

Raymond Alcide Joseph, Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, told CNN that the country’s first lady, Elisabeth Débrosse Delatour, called the Haitian consul general in Miami to report that although she and the president, René Préval, were fine, the presidential palace and the nation’s ministry of commerce were damaged.

He said that he had also spoken to the secretary general of the presidency, Fritz Lonchamps, who told him he was driving through Port au Prince when the earthquake struck.

“Buildings started to collapse right and left around him,” Mr. Joseph said. “He said, ‘Mr. Ambassador, tell the world it is a catastrophe of major proportion.’”

The USGS said the Haiti earthquake occurred in the boundary region separating the Caribbean plate and the North America plate. This plate boundary is dominated by left-lateral strike slip motion and compression, and accommodates about 20 mm/y slip, with the Caribbean plate moving eastward with respect to the North America plate.

Haiti occupies the western part of the island of Hispaniola, one of the Greater Antilles islands, situated between Puerto Rico and Cuba. At the longitude of the January 12 earthquake, motion between the Caribbean and North American plates is partitioned between two major east-west trending, strike-slip fault systems -- the Septentrional fault system in northern Haiti and the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system in southern Haiti.

The location and focal mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with the event having occurred as left-lateral strike slip faulting on the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system. This fault system accommodates about 7 mm/y, nearly half the overall motion between the Caribbean plate and North America plate.

The Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault system has not produced a major earthquake in recent decades. The EPGFZ is the likely source of historical large earthquakes in 1860, 1770, 1761, 1751, 1684, 1673, and 1618, though none of these has been confirmed in the field as associated with this fault.

Based on the earthquake location, magnitude, and historic tsunami records, a damaging tsunami IS NOT expected along the Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, U.S. Atlantic, Eastern Canadian and Gulf of Mexico coasts.

Though earthquakes of this size can generate destructive tsunamis along the coast near the epicenter, NO tsunami warning, watch or advisory is in effect for these areas. Authorities in the epicentral region should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action.

Should there be a risk, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii will issue messages for areas in the Caribbean outside Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Katie Couric spoke with Raymond Alcide Joseph, the Haitian Ambassador to the U.S., about the earthquake which has caused a disaster on the island nation:
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