The powerful earthquake that hit Haiti on Saturday killed hundreds and injured thousands more. The destruction comes just 11 years after a temblor killed tens\u2026<\/b>
\nThe powerful earthquake that hit Haiti on Saturday killed hundreds and injured thousands more. The destruction comes just 11 years after a temblor killed tens of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands. Some 100,000 buildings were destroyed in the 2010 quake. As rescuers search for survivors in the Caribbean nation, here\u2019s a look at why Haiti has had so many devastating earthquakes over the centuries and why they are often so devastating. ___ WHAT MAKES HAITI PRONE TO EARTHQUAKES? The Earth\u2019s crust is made up of tectonic plates that move. And Haiti sits near the intersection of two of them the North American plate and the Caribbean plate. Multiple fault lines between those plates cut through or near the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. What\u2019s worse, not all of those fault lines behave the same way. \u201cHispaniola sits in a place where plates transition from smashing together to sliding past one another,\u201d said Rich Briggs, a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey\u2019s Geologic Hazards Science Center. \u201cIt\u2019s like a rock stuck in the track of a sliding glass door,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just does not want to move smoothly because it\u2019s got so many different forces on it.\u201d ___ WHAT CAUSED THE MOST RECENT QUAKE? Saturday\u2019s magnitude 7.2 earthquake likely occurred along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone, which cuts across Haiti\u2019s southwestern Tiburon Peninsula, according to the USGS. It\u2019s the same fault zone along which the devastating 2010 earthquake occurred. And it\u2019s likely the source of three other big earthquakes in Haiti between 1751 and 1860, two of which destroyed Port-au-Prince. Earthquakes are the result of the tectonic plates slowly moving against each other and creating friction over time, said Gavin Hayes, senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards at USGS. \u201cThat friction builds up and builds up and eventually the strain that\u2019s stored there overcomes the friction,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when the fault moves suddenly. That\u2019s what an earthquake is.\u201d ___ WHY CAN EARTHQUAKES IN HAITI BE SO DEVASTATING? It\u2019s a combination of factors that include a seismically active area, a dense population of 11 million people and buildings that are often designed to withstand hurricanes \u2014 not earthquakes. Typical concrete and cinder block buildings can survive strong winds but are vulnerable to damage or collapse when the ground shakes. Poor building practices can also play a role. The 2010 quake hit closer to densely populated Port-au-Prince and caused widespread destruction. Haiti\u2019s government put the death toll at more than 300,000, while a report commissioned by the U.S. government placed it between 46,000 and 85,000. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to recognize that there\u2019s no such thing as a natural disaster,\u201d said Wendy Bohon, a geologist with Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology. \u201cWhat you have is a natural hazard that overlaps with a vulnerable system.\u201d ___ WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Geologists say they cannot predict the next earthquake. \u201cBut we do know that earthquakes like this can cause similar-sized earthquakes on the next portion of the fault,\u201d said Hayes of USGS. \u201cAnd it\u2019s quite a significant hazard in places that don\u2019t have the construction practices to withstand the shaking.\u201d Construction of more earthquake-resistant buildings remains a challenge in Haiti, which is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Before Saturday\u2019s quake, Haiti was still recovering from the 2010 earthquake as well as Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It\u2019s president was assassinated last month, sending the country into political chaos. And while there have been some success stories of Haitians building more earthquake-resistant structures, the country has lacked a centralized effort to do so, said Mark Schuller, professor anthropology and nonprofit and NGO studies at Northern Illinois University. Haiti\u2019s government has become increasingly weak, while non-governmental organizations focus on their own compartmentalized projects. \u201cThere is technical knowledge in Haiti. There are trained architects. There are city planners. That\u2019s not the problem,\u201d Schuller said. \u201cThe problem is a lack of funding for coordination, and lack of political will from donors (to organizations providing aid).\u201d Copyright \u00a9 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.<\/p>\n