Haiti at risk for future earthquakes

A new study has found that Haiti and the Dominican Republic are at higher risk of future devastating earthquakes.

It said the January 2010 quake that destroyed much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, may have marked the start of a new cycle of active seismicity. Researchers used 500 years of recorded accounts of the seismic history of Hispaniola; the island which the two countries share, to evaluate the intensity of past earthquakes and estimate their location and magnitudes.

They cite a 6.6 quake that occurred in 1701 followed by three more powerful earthquakes in 1751 and 1770, that preceded the 2010 quake. Lead author of the study, William Bakun says the entire Enriquillo fault system ruptured during the initial 70 years of earthquakes, then it shut off.

Mr. Bakun was quick to say however that the study was not suggesting that things will repeat precisely as they did in the 18th century, but history shows that one shouldn’t be surprised.