Haiti rocked by minor earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.4 on the Richter scale was recorded to the west of here on Saturday.

The Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME) says the epicentre of the quake was located 20 km west of Port-au-Prince, between the commune of Léogâne and Carrefour and 5.6 km northwest of La Salle.

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Haiti rocked by minor earthquake

The devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti also set off a swarm of unusual tsunamis, which killed three and destroyed several homes, experts said today.

Though surveying damage and rescuing survivors was of utmost priority for several weeks, scientists are now starting to examine some of the side effects of the temblor, such as the tsunamis.

The waves, which averaged about ten feet (three meters) high, slammed shores along the Bay of Port-au-Prince and the southern coast of the island of Hispaniola (see map), which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

At least one wave hit the shore as far as 62 miles (100 kilometers) away from the earthquake's epicenter, near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Tsunamis are rare though not unheard of in the Caribbean—a 1946 wave in the Dominican Republic killed nearly 2,000 people, said Hermann Fritz, a civil and coastal engineer who worked with a team from Haiti's Quisqueya University to study the tsunamis.

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Deadly Tsunami Swarm Hit Haiti After Quake, Experts Say


***According to the above article, when Haiti had a large 7.0 earthquake in 2010 a tsunami was generated which killed 3 persons.

In 1946 a tsunami killed nearly 2,000 people in the Dominican Republic.

I have heard what to do when an earthquake occurs, not enough as needed, and almost nothing to do about what to do in case of a tsunami except to run to higher ground if you live near the coast after a major earthquake.

From what I understand, higher grounds include hills, or mountains, or inside strong tall buildings fitted with steel. Therefore if one lives or is near coastline areas when there is a major earthquake immediately persons must run to up a hill, or mountain as quick as they can, or run up a strong building, ensuring to go high enough inside the building, to avoid being swept away.

In 2011, Japan was hit by a tsunami that was generated by the greatest earthquake in its history. The first tsunami warning was announced 3 min after the earthquake, as is normal, but failed to estimate the actual tsunami height. Most of the structural countermeasures were not designed for the huge tsunami that was generated by the magnitude M = 9.0 earthquake; as a result, many were destroyed and did not stop the tsunami. These structures included breakwaters, seawalls, water gates, and control forests.

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Lessons Learned from the 2011 Great East Japan Tsunami: Performance of Tsunami Countermeasures, Coastal Buildings, and Tsunami Evacuation in Japan

The reason why I mentioned Haiti, in particular, is that it seems as if a lot of people don't know that in the January 7.0 2010 earthquake a tsunami was generated. Not only was a tsunami generated it seem as if the tsunami or tsunamis was different, it wasn't like a normal tsunami.

Identifying the fault responsible for Haiti's massive Jan. 12 earthquake seemed like an open-and-shut case

After the temblor, the well-known Enriquillo fault was quickly blamed, but new data reveal a more complicated picture. The magnitude-7.0 earthquake involved not one, but three faults, which sent tsunami waves crashing onto shore by an unusual chain of events, according to two studies published today (Oct. 10) in the journal Nature Geoscience.

...Just as surprising as the complexities of the quake, is that it triggered several small tsunamis. "What's strange — and Haiti is a good example — is that from a technical perspective, this shouldn't happen," said Matthew Hornbach, a team member on the second study and a geophysicist at the University of Texas in Austin.

Strike-slip fault systems, such as the one that runs through Haiti, are not usually associated with tsunamis. Usually, a fault that moves up-and-down will move the seafloor and produce massive waves; strike-slip fault systems slide side-to-side when two plates butt heads. The Haiti quake, however, triggered massive underwater landslides that, along with a small amount of ground motion, made the waves, Hornbach said.

Globally, 3 percent of tsunamis are caused by slides. In Haiti, slide-triggered tsunamis may be 30-percent more frequent, Hornbach said.

The country's coastal setting, high sedimentation due to extreme wet and dry seasons dumping material down the mountains, and infrequent earthquakes that would release the coastal build-up of sediment are all causes of the slides. These unstable coasts could set off tsunamis even during smaller earthquakes.

"All of sudden, tsunami warning systems can't account for these events," Hornbach said. "This makes it much more difficult to predict."

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Surprises Revealed in Wake of Massive Haiti Quake


The 7.7 earthquake was a shock to many. The mere fact that this earthquake shook Miami and Mexico shows the amount of power that the earthquake generated. Jesus Christ has been merciful to Jamaica time and time again, but there is a lot of bad things going on in Jamaica that God simply cannot ignore.

People in Jamaica need to understand that a major tsunami can happen anywhere and at any time.

Things in the Caribbean have changed and that is what we need to be aware of and plan for.

Anything can happen to Jamaica no matter how unusual it may be.