“A massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, raising fears of destruction similar to the devastating 2010 quake that shattered the country. At least 227 deaths have been reported, according to Haiti’s civil protection service. The USGS predicts the death toll could reach into the thousands,” reports NPR.
“USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso told NPR that Saturday’s quake is on par with the 2010 quake, because of its similar magnitude and that it occurred along the same fault line – the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone. ‘It looks like it’s really bad,’ Caruso said. ‘There could be a lot of casualties.’ The mechanism of the latest earthquake, however, is different. This one had a thrust mechanism, whereas the 2010 quake had a strike slip type mechanism, Caruso said.”
“Ariel Henry, Haiti’s new prime minister, in a translated tweet extended his sympathies ‘to the parents of the victims of this violent earthquake which caused several losses of human and material lives in several geographical departments of the country,’ Henry said he will declare a state of emergency for one month as the country assesses the damage from the disaster and sends teams to the area for search and rescue missions.”