Earthquakes happen all the time. 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. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of these sheets of rock and are measured on the Richter Scale. The earthquake in Haiti measured 7 on the Richter Scale. Geologist knew that two sheets of rock met and formed a 65 km. fault line near Port-au-Prince. In Haiti , many of the building were old or very badly built. They collapsed during the earthquake and 1.5 million people were left without homes.