On Tuesday , January 12,2010, an estimated 230,000 people lost their lives when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the small Caribbean nation of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
The quake originated only 25 kilometers ( 15 miles ) from the country's densely populated capital city of Port-au-Prince. It occurred along a San Andreas-like fault at depth of just 10 kilo-meters ( 6 miles) . Because of the quake's shallow depth, ground shaking was exceptional for an event of this magnitude . Other fac-tors also contributed to the Port-au-Prince disaster, including the city's geologic setting and the nature of its buildings. The city is not built on solid bedrock but on sediment, which is more susceptible to ground shaking by