Love and Haiti Trivia Quiz

Answer: Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince is Haiti's capital city and was home to over 2-3 million residents. This was nearly half of the country's population. The estimated death toll of the earthquake was around 230,000 with many bodies that remain uncounted.

Answer: 7.3

The energy created by a 7.0 earthquake is enough to heat New York City for a whole year! This magnitude is classified as a major earthquake resulting in serious damage and loss of life. A 9.2 earthquake was the second strongest earthquake in history and took place in Alaska in 1964.

The largest earthquake was recorded in Chile as a 9.5. The likelihood of a mega-quake measuring over 10 on the Richter scale is highly unlikely (except in the movies, of course).

Answer: 80%

Haiti is tied for second poorest country in the world led only by Zimbabwe. 80% seems like a huge proportion compared to the 12% living below the poverty line in the United States. Most Haitians live on under $2 a day - if they have a job.

Answer: True

In November 2008 after a school collapsed Petionville, it was estimated the over 60% of the buildings in Haiti were poorly built and unsafe in normal conditions. An even higher percentage of the buildings were not built to withstand a major earthquake.

Answer: All of these things are major concerns

Haiti has a long history of political violence and being located in the middle of the Caribbean makes it a target for major hurricanes and tropical rains. It is hard to take steps towards recovery when you have to deal with hurricanes every year. Disease is also a concern because proper medical care is not easily accessed.

It was even harder to come by after the quake when injury and diseases like cholera devastated the people.

Answer: Dominican Republic

Luckily, the Dominican Republic felt only minor effects from the earthquake compared to Haiti. They sent water, food, and heavy lifting machinery. The Dominican Red Cross helped provide early medical relief and emergency teams helped thousands of the injured.

Answer: Strike-Slip Fault

Thrust faults cause much stronger earthquakes than strike-slip faults. The quake in 2004 that cause the tsunami in the Indian ocean occurred along a thrust fault and measure a 9 on the Richter scale. However the earthquake in Haiti occurred just 6 feet below the surface and therefore less of its energy was absorbed.

Answer: An intricate system of faults surrounds the area

This particular fault line is actually pretty active but the activity is usually along the eastern edge of the Caribbean plate and earthquakes typically measure a mere 4 or 5 on the Richter scale. The Caribbean is actually highly complex in its seismic and volcanic activity, with transform boundaries blending into deep subduction zones.

Answer: 1770

The earthquake in 1770 was a 7.5 in magnitude and also struck Port-au-Prince. More recently in 1907 there was an earthquake that caused damage and severe loss of life in Kingston, Jamaica (same fault line) but the seismic reading of 6.5 was not strong enough to classify it as a major quake.

It takes time for a fault to be locked long enough to produce the devastation on this level when it slips.

Answer: No

Tsunami warnings were issued at first but were quickly cancelled. Earthquakes of the strike-slip nature are not historically known to produce tsunamis.