Haiti's Future risk
Research has confirmed that the devastating Haiti Earthquake that killed 200,000 and left a million more homeless, has further implications than originally assumed. The 2010 earthquake in Haiti was caused by the interference of the North American and Caribbean plates along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault. The seismic strain increases over time as the tectonic plates slowly slide past one another. This seismic energy that accumulates over time causes earthquakes, including the one that occurred in Haiti in January.
However, this earthquake was a product of only a fraction of the stored seismic in the vault. This means that there is a considerable probability of a similar sized earthquake hitting Haiti in the next 20 to 30 years. To understand the risk of these future earthquakes, and the harm they are capable of causing, scientists must first understand how much seismic energy was transferred to faults near the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault in January.