Haiti Earthquake 2010: The Basics
Haiti sits in the Caribbean, just southeast of Florida and north of Venezuela. On January 12th, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck this small island nation with devastating consequences.
The earthquake happened on a conservative plate boundary with its focus only 13km deep underground. The epicentre was dangerously close to Port-au-Prince - just 25km away from the capital where millions lived.
What made this disaster so deadly wasn't just the earthquake's strength, but Haiti's situation beforehand. As a Low Income Developing Country (LIDC), most buildings were cheap and poorly constructed, making them death traps when the ground started shaking.
Key Fact: The earthquake's shallow depth meant its energy hit the surface with maximum force, explaining why the damage was so extreme.
The numbers tell a horrific story: 200,000 deaths, 250,000 serious injuries, and over 1 million people left homeless. A third of all buildings in Port-au-Prince simply collapsed, and poverty rates jumped from 50% to 80% overnight.
