For centuries, earthquakes have shaken Haiti, now reeling from a 7.2-magnitude tremor that struck early Saturday. Why are quakes so prevalent on the island nation? The island of Hispaniola, home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, straddles four tectonic plates in the Caribbean ocean, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology said. Earthquakes occur along the [\u2026]<\/b>
\nFor centuries, earthquakes have shaken Haiti, now reeling from a 7.2-magnitude tremor that struck early Saturday. Why are quakes so prevalent on the island nation? The island of Hispaniola, home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, straddles four tectonic plates in the Caribbean ocean, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology said. Earthquakes occur along the boundaries of these tectonic plates, which make up the Earth\u2019s crust. These borders are called faults. Haiti lies at the intersection of the Caribbean Plate and the Gonave, Hispaniola and North Hispaniola microplates, the institutions said. And it\u2019s \u201ccaught in the crunch\u201d between the Caribbean and North America plates, where sudden releases of energy in the crust as the two plates grind together cause earthquakes. The makeup of the crust near the Bahamas exacerbates the problem \u2013 thick limestone reef deposits more than 3 miles deep double the crustal thickness with buoyant materials that make it harder for the North American Plate to subduct, the organization said. Subduction occurs when one plate slides beneath another plate into the Earth\u2019s molten mantle, releasing some of the pressure without causing earthquakes. Haiti has two prominent fault zones. A continuation of the Septentrional fault runs through the north of Hispaniola, while the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone, runs through the south of the major Antille. The Saturday morning earthquake happened over the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone, where the magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in 2010. \u201cIt is an event that is possibly related to the event of more than ten years ago,\u201d said Victor Huerfano, director of the Puerto Rico Seismic Network. \u201cIt\u2019s the same fault.\u201d The Puerto Rico Seismic Network continues to study the event and monitor the region for aftershocks. \u201cThe event was so strong, that still hours later, there are seismic signals arriving,\u201d he said. The latest 7.2-magnitude quake hit at 8:29 a.m. local time, concentrated in the southern and western parts of the country. There are reports of extensive damage and several aftershocks. In 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in the capital of Port-au-Prince killed more than 300,000 people. Other major quakes were recorded in 1887,1842,1770 and 1751. Magnitude\u200c \u200cmeasures\u200c \u200c\u200cthe\u200c \u200cenergy\u200c \u200creleased\u200c\u200c \u200cat\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200csource\u200c \u200cof\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cearthquake,\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cU.S.\u200c \u200cGeological\u200c \u200c Survey\u200c \u200csays.\u200c \u200cIt\u200c \u200creplaces\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cold\u200c \u200cRichter\u200c \u200cscale.\u200c \u200c Quakes\u200c \u200cbetween\u200c \u200c7.0 \u200cand\u200c \u200c7.9 \u200cmagnitude\u200c can cause major damage, \u200caccording\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cMichigan\u200c \u200cTech.\u200c \u200cThere are about 20 such quakes each year worldwide. Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Enter your email and password to access comments. Forgot Password? Don’t have a Talk profile? Create one. Invalid username\/password. Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. Please note the display name will appear on screen when you participate. Already registered? Log in to join the discussion. Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here\u2019s why. Use the form below to reset your password. When you’ve submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code. Send questions\/comments to the editors. \u00ab Previous<\/p>\n