A recent article in Haiti's Le Matin newspaper has quoted 65 year old geologist and former professor at the Geological Institute of Havana, Patrick Charles, as stating that "conditions are ripe for major seismic activity in Port-au-Prince. The inhabitants of the Haitian capital need to prepare themselves for an event which will inevitably occur..."
This is not even funny. Haiti is definitely not an "earthquake" country, but seismic faults do run through it, and people feel tremors from time to time. Too bad there isn't any money to get anything done, but people should be made aware. Anyway, in Haiti, things are always done on an as-needed basis. There is no such thing as preventive measures. If earthquakes become common (like in California or Japan), then real measures will be taken.
Think about it. The government can't even help out when there are hurricanes which occur every year. Ain't nobody thinking about no earthquake.
Even the super-rich may not be immune as many own homes with great views, but precariously perched on the mountainsides above Petionville, on ground which is also susceptible to landslides.
This week there was a small size earthquake that hit Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands. Haiti's geographics unfortunately put it in a eathquake prone region.
I pray to the almighty we don't see anything of a major scale within our lifetime as the country is not ready for it. Hopefully things will get better before something big happens.
Of COURSE Haiti could have an earthquake! Jamaica had a huge one that sunk the city of Port Royal in 1692 and another in 1907 that devastated Kingston. The boundary between the North American continental plate and the Caribbean plate actually passes between Cuba and northern Haiti, so Haiti is certainly likely to experience earthquakes.
"Likely", however, on a geologic scale, does not mean "one a day". It means that Haiti will have earthquakes, every so often, hundreds of years, thousands of years, and it is difficult to predict precisely when an earthquake will occur.
Right now Haiti can't do anything about no earthquake. The only thing I can see would be to move the capital to a different location.
Are you kidding? This would cost more and be much more impractical than strengthening existing buidlings and taking safety pecautions. Also, the entire country is earthquake prone so even if moving Port-au-Prince were viable, it would be of no use.
You're right that moving the capital is not terribly practical at this time, but remember, Jamaica moved it's capital for very similar reasons (it used to be St. Jago de Vega, otherwise known as Spanish Town.)
Now I remember when I was in Haiti growing up I experienced an Earthquakes, but it was a very short one. The Earthquakes last about 3 seconds, so it wasn't able to make damages. I remember I was sitting eating dinner with my aunt and cousins an afternoon when it happened. So what the article says is definetly true, the government has to think about that.
I think this is a good time to decentralize Haiti.
Almost everything is in Port-au-Prince. Which create the population boom and almost anything you need done you have to go get it done in Port-au-Prince so if Port-au-Prince is gone, it's as if Haiti is gone.
This decentralizing process has been talked about since the early 1990s but I don't see any measures are being taken to actually achieve it.
Right now Haiti can't do anything about no earthquake. The only thing I can see would be to move the capital to a different location.
The capital does not need to be moved. What the Haitian government and the private sectors need to do is work together to decentralize the country. Now, I know they want everything to be near them and they want to make maximum returns but this is something that will take all, if it surprise them. In other words, they might not have the warning they need to go board a flight with AA to come to the U.S.
