The 2010 Haitian and Chilean Earthquakes and Echoes of the Past
By Quinn Dauer
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the colossal Haitian and Chilean earthquakes. On 12 January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti just southwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince, killing at least 200,000 people. Only a month and a half later on 27 February 2010, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck south central Chile near the industrial center of Concepción only had a death toll of about 500 people. The 2010 Chilean earthquake was the sixth strongest on record and shifted the earthquake’s axis, possibly shortening the length of a day on earth.
Why were the outcomes in Haiti and Chile so divergent?
