Earthquake Week

The Cause of Haiti's Latest Earthquake: Is the Worst Yet to Come? A Look at the Seismic Science in the Caribbean.

Newsweek
Posted Wednesday, January 20, 2010 7:27 AM 
Link: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition/archive/2010/01/20/the-cause-of-haiti-s-latest-earthquake-is-the-worst-yet-to-come-a-look-at-the-seismic-science-in-the-caribbean.aspx

Jeneen Interlandi

In the seven days since a 7.0 earthquake struck the island of Haiti and decimated its capital city, at least 14 aftershocks measuring 5 or above have been recorded by the United States Geological Survey—including a 6.0 quake in Haiti just this morning. The event confirms a new report by Woods Hole seismologists which found that not only would such shocks be likely to continue, but the already devastated island nation would face great risk of significant future calamity.

Haiti and its neighbors sit above two tectonic plates (the North American and the Caribbean) that slide awkwardly past one another in an east-west direction at about an inch a year. The 100-mile border between these two plates, known as the Enriquillo-Plaintain fault line, extends from the Dominican Republic through Haiti all the way to Jamaica. Last Tuesday’s rupture occurred when a segment of the plates that had been stuck together since 1751 (when the last earthquake occurred) jerked themselves free, releasing 250 years of built-up friction from the earthquake’s epicenter and displacing just enough ground to topple Haiti’s fragile and ill-prepared capital.

Word list

aftershocks- terremotos recorrentes (normalmente após um terremoto maior)
to slide- escorregar
awkwardly- de modo esquisito/estranho
inch- polegada
to jerk oneself free - soltar-se
to topple- derrubar

Tradutor: http://www.google.com/language_tools


- Leiam e discutam as perguntas abaixo (postem suas ideias e respostas, clicando em "COMENTÁRIOS"):

1. What did geological surveys discovered?
2. Why is Haiti area prone to earthquakes? Will it happen again?
3. Does it seem (from the text tone) that Haiti was prepared for it? Why? Why not?