what is this a reflection of? Haiti vs. Chilies building structure or simply their disaster preparedness? Is there another factor?
I know the death toll has risen, at the time i posted this question it was only at 78.
how did a 7.0 earthquake kill 300,000 people in Haiti but 8.8 only killed 78 in Chile?
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I think there are many factors involved. How deep the earth quake is, buildings, type of geological base, etc.
I think most would say poor construction in haiti.
Chile’s death rate is not even 12 hours old. It will surely be much higher, but….it wasn’t near a major metro area which helps. Haiti’s was.
Haiti is an extremely impoverished country with little preparation for any sort of natural disaster. Also, earthquakes in Haiti are rare. Chile is a country that is on the Ring of Fire and thus they realize the dangers their location places them in and have prepared accordingly. Finally, Chile is much more developed than Haiti at all levels.
Probably that Chile actually has building standards, especially after the 1960 earthquake Chile had that was the largest earthquake in recorded history. Time of day is also a factor – it was the middle of the night in Chile and there were not many people on the street, as opposed to the Haiti quake, which if I recall struck in the morning when people were out and about and starting their day. Also, the Haiti quake’s epicenter was 10 miles from Port-au-Prince, which basically has no building standards other than straw and Sacrete. The magnitude of the earthquake is only one factor. It doesn’t reflect anything other than that we tiny human beings are helpless in the face of something like this and what happens, happens. Nobody can prepare for a disaster of this size.
Also, you need to remember that as far as casualties go it’s very early times. There could be hundreds or even thousands of casualties still to be found. We hope to God not, but how many were home in bed and never had the chance to wake up?
Corruption and poverty are worse in Haiti than Chile, make of that what you will.
December 21, 2012 is near.
Deep-sea quakes act quite a bit differently than surface ground quakes do… a large portion of that intense vibration is filtered out by the water. thus, resulting in killer title waves (Tsunamis)
If you want a comparisons to the catastrophic level of damage an earthquake of this magnitude would afflict? Look no further than to the state of California where an earthquake of this magnitude would be 1000 times worse, Why??? Due to were LA, now sits on.
More people in small area in Haiti, the buildings aren’t as good.
First off, the Chilean earthquake killed 125 people, not 78! And Haiti is a poorer country, less developed.
Chili’s quake was 37 km (around 15 miles) down in depth whereas Haiti’s was shallow in comparison. The destruction there is real bad. Maybe they just don’t want the international community coming in right now and “helping out.” Maybe they just want to do it themselves for awhile at least until they have a handle on it, can’t blame them for that. Haiti was a mess when everyone arrived all at once and the poor people got nothing because of bottle necks all over the place.
The death toll is likely to rise. It just happened about 12 hours ago. They are all still in a state of shock. God Bless the country!
I think the most significant difference is that the Haiti earthquake epicenter was just a few miles from an urban area of over 2 million people.
The Chile earthquake wasn’t near any big cities, Concepcion population a half million, was the closest and even that was 60 miles from the epicenter, Santiago is 200 miles from it. Both received much damage but not as many lives were lost.
Example; if you had an 8.0 right under L.A…….the death toll would be enormous, but if you put that epicenter out say 100 miles, LA would surely see damage and some deaths but not anywhere near if it was right under them.