Tag archives for Earthquakes
Posted by A destructive 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday. At least 65 people were killed, and people remain trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. This quake is the latest aftershock to follow a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Christchurch in the fall of 2010.
Read more about the earthquake on National Geographic News.
Get the facts on New Zealand on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Mark Mitchell, New Zealand Herald/AP
On January 12, 2010, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Haiti. In the year following the devastating quake, there has been slow progress in rebuilding the country. With international help (including help from you!), some of the debris has been cleaned up and some buildings have been rebuilt, but lots of rubble still remains. There have been other problems, like a cholera epidemic that has sickened thousands of people. Cholera spreads in areas with bad sanitary conditions, and the earthquake made Haiti’s sanitation worse.
Why has recovery been so slow? One big reason is that Haiti doesn’t have a stable political environment, which makes cleanup efforts difficult. “So what’s going on is what we used to call stovepipe reconstruction, where certain areas and types of structures are being reconstructed or built anew but there is no overall plan. Because, among other things, it’s really unclear if there is a Haitian government at this point,” says Richard Olson of Florida International University and director of the Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas program.
Read more about the state Haiti is in on the anniversary of the earthquake on National Geographic News.
Read about the earthquake on the News Bites blog.
Read about how you helped Haiti by sending in donations on the News Bites blog.
Get facts about Haiti on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Eduardo Munoz, Reuters
On February 27, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off of the shore of Chile, which is on the western side of South America. The quake damaged buildings, bridges, and power lines. It also caused tsunamis that battered Chile’s coast and even reached as far away as Hawaii.
This quake was stronger than the one that occurred in Haiti in January. It was even strong enough to change the Earth’s axis and shorten the length of a day by 1.26 millionths of a second.
Find out more about the Chile earthquake on National Geographic News.
Read about the January earthquake in Haiti on News Bites.
Learn more about earthquakes on nationalgeographic.com.
Photograph by Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images
On January 12, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake, causing widespread devastation. The earthquake’s epicenter was about 10 miles from Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city. The International Red Cross estimates that a third of Haiti’s citizens will need emergency aid.
The quake destroyed houses, schools, hospitals, and even the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. The city is currently without electricity or phone service.
Find out more about the Haiti earthquake on National Geographic News.
Find out how you can help on the American Red Cross website.
Learn more about earthquakes on nationalgeographic.com.
Learn more about Haiti on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images
