6 Chapter One Port-au-Prince’s dense construction and ramshackle building style left it extremely vulnerable to earthquakes People strolled through the streets of Port-au-Prince Haiti buying vegetables and fruit for their evening meal from the market stalls along the street Children played as the scent of cooking evening meals wafted on the city’s air Suddenly at 4 53 p m local time on January 12 2010 an earthquake shattered the city Screams filled the air as homes and buildings collapsed in clouds of dust People jumped out of cars and ran out of buildings to get to any open space they could find The country was home to 10 million people One-fourth of them lived in the capital city of Port-au-Prince Hundreds of thousands of people lived in urban slums arrayed along the edges and hillsides of the city Approximately 3 5 million people were affected by the quake 1 A Tale of TWO QUAKES
8 Death and Damage The center of the Haitian earthquake was 16 miles 26 km from the city 2 The shaking lasted for less than a minute Since the depth of the earthquake was shallow only a few miles below ground level the energy was released close to the surface This meant the shaking was severe Earthquakes are often followed by smaller tremors called aftershocks Within a few hours after the initial earthquake powerful aftershocks caused more damage An estimated 316,000 people died many of them from collapsing houses and buildings Another 300,000 were injured Approximately 1 3 million people were left homeless Tent cities of refugees sprang up around Port-au-Prince Estimates suggested nearly 100,000 houses were destroyed and another 190,000 were seriously damaged 3 Another Quake Hits Just over a month later on February 27 2010 an earthquake violently shook parts of South America at 3 34 a m Most people in Concepción Chile had been sleeping As the HAITI EYEWITNESS Regine Jean-François a student in her early twenties was in her mother’s office when the Haiti earthquake struck Her mother was finishing the last of her daily tasks Regine recalled Just then I heard a growling noise and everything started shaking 4 As books tumbled off shelves and pictures fell off the walls Regine’s mom yelled that it was an earthquake They tried to run outside This was almost impossible because the whole structure was shaking up and down but they managed to escape The Haitian earthquake reduced homes and other buildings to piles of rubble
