Earthquakes happen all the time. In fact,there are up to 9,000 earthquakes around the world every day. Fortunately,most-of-them are so small we don't even notice them. But at 4.53 on the evening of 12 January 2010,Haiti was struck by its biggest earthquake in 200 years. It happened about 10 kilometers below the earth's surface,not far from the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake lasted for only thirty-five seconds.but it destroyed many buildings in Port-au-Prince and killed more than 230,000 people.