Major magnitude 7.3 quake hits Haiti - USGS (Breaking!)

Reuters UK ^ | 01/12/2010 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

A major magnitude 7.3 quake hit the impoverished country of Haiti Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicentre of the quake, which was initially reported a magnitude 7.0 off the coast, was located inland, six miles (10 km) west of Carrefour, close to the capital Port-au-Prince and was only 20.5 miles (30 km) deep. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere....

[Richard Kimball]

Concrete has good compressive strength but no tensile or shear strength. The rebar is strong in the directions that concrete isn’t.

[cleveland gop]

Done!! Just saw the thread now.

Please give updates as you can!!!

[21twelve]

Looking at your post and mine - I did not know their building had collapsed. My comment was with regard to the ambassador saying that it was “great” that the U.N. was there to help. (Not that it was me saying that it was great that their building collapsed).

I suppose just like many comments I (and others) sometimes make, when we might say things like “too bad the U.N. building in New York didn’t fall down” - we mean just the building and the ideals it stands for. Not most of the folks that work there.

But I wonder how much of a help the U.N. will be down there? How much of their effort is with kickbacks, etc. I would hope that they will have the ability and the desire to help.

[1_Rain_Drop]

has there been any word from them?

Sending prayers of protection and strength for them. There's a lot of work now.

[21twelve]

Thank you for that site. Prayers added to theirs.

*********

the singing and praying is getting more intense..you have to believe!! From what I’m hearing, this is worse than anyone is imagining
16 minutes ago from web

singing and prayers are becoming more invigorated
26 minutes ago from web

Hotel Christopher and Montana are flattened from an eye witness

[Strategerist]

This is quite close to Haiti and likely puts perspective to the newsfolks assertion that earthquakes are not common in the area

I saw a crawl on CNN claiming it was the largest quake in recorded history in the area, which is patently false.

There was a similar quake in Haiti, likely on the same fault in 1751. Hispaniola is riddled with faults. Actually the fault this quake occured on, the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault, is the one that extends to Jamaica and was associated with the Port Royal earthquake.

[PA Engineer]

YouTube video taken of port-au-prince shortly after quake.

[Cvengr]

I concur with your observation.

Quakes in Scripture are associated with judgment.

I don't know the causes for this one, but considering the history of Haiti, including the billions invested by the US to help that nation, I find the below shake map to interestingly nearly isolate the violence from surrounding nations.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/pager/events/us/2010rja6/exposure.png

The US was still deploying JTF assets to Haiti in 2008 and 2009. I don't know if those JTFs/CJTFs have ever been disbanded.

[Cvengr]

Doesn’t look good.

[advance_copy]

No worries. The UN never did much for Haiti before the quake, even with their building standing.

[VRWCTexan]

http://picfog.com/search/Haiti

Many photos by Jim Long (long time NBC photo / media guy)

His twitter acct

http://twitter.com/newmediajim

[Richard Kimball]

You were in central Haiti. I spent some time in Port au Prince, and yes, it's scary. We were attacked about two hours in by a bunch of guys trying to carjack us, and the first night we were there we heard automatic gunfire and helicopters for about an hour outside our window.

Another bunch tried to carjack us on the north side of the island, but that was more funny than anything else (worst carjacking attempt EVER.) Out in the area you were in, the Voodoo seemed a lot more intense, but that may be because it was safe enough to get out among some of the people. I got used to unconsciously noting the guys with machetes that would parallel us sometimes and make sure I stayed where I would be able to get to the truck or high ground if they made a break for me. A couple kind of feinted to see if I'd react, but backed away when they knew I was aware of them.

There were three things that struck me about the people of Haiti. The first was that they had no concept of what it meant to overload a vehicle. I saw a Toyota pickup with around twenty people in it, and a forty passenger bus with at least 150, and this was so common I got to where I didn't notice it. The second was that they seemed to have no fear reaction at all, except at the moment they thought they were going to die. The third thing was none of them seemed to think about anything further than a minute into the future.

[Strategerist]

I find the below shake map to interestingly nearly isolate the violence from surrounding nations.

Sigh. I remember Quix excitedly trying to figure out if "bad" churches on the Mississippi coast were more likely to have been destroyed by Katrina than "good" churches.

We've discovered, by much painstaking labor, that quakes are associated with faults, and mostly with plate boundaries. Supernatural explanations for their occurrence are no longer necessary.

[Petronski]

Actually, third world countries tend to do fairly well in earthquakes due to single story construction with lightweight materials.

Clouds of concrete

[AppyPappy]

They are OK. They are there on a building project. One of the pastors is Korean. That’s quite a challenge in a place like Haiti.

[cleveland gop]

Ping to RK’s post 19......

And prayers that his CI child is safe and sound in the DR.

[Richard Kimball]

Thanks Cleveland. For a guy I’ve never met, you’ve become quite a good friend.

[Richard Kimball]

for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

[SE Mom]

Unbelievable isn’t it?

Watching CNN- still doing live coverage.

[big'ol_freeper]

Consider it done...prayers up!