Expert: Haitian Earthquake 35 Times More Powerful Than Atomic Bomb

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A University professor in the UK said on Thursday that the earthquake that shook Haiti and that leveled its capital of Port-au-Prince, was 35 times more powerful that the atomic bomb that the US dropped in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

Dr. Roger Searle from the Department of Earth Science at Durham University said that the damage in Port-au-Prince can be compared to the destruction that half a million of TNT would create, and that a magnitude 7 earthquake “releases the energy equivalent of several nuclear bombs.”

Searles said that the quake that hit Haiti was 250 years in the making.

“Earthquakes are complex processes that are very hard to predict.The earth’s crust is a complex system and at the boundaries of the tectonic plates there are networks of faults separating lots of smaller blocks. As the plates move, stress gradually builds up until one part of this complex system gives way, and an earthquake occurs.

It’s a little bit like building a pile of stones: it gets steeper and steeper, and eventually the whole thing will give way, but it’s very hard to say just when and where. We can actually predict reasonably well where earthquakes will occur, but not when.”

Canada’s Governor General Michaelle Jean also likened the extend of the damage by Tuesday’s quake to that of a major explosion.

“It’s as if an atomic bomb had fallen on Port-au-Prince,” Jean said.

HAITI HAD BEEN WARNED

Back March 2008, a group of US geologists attending the 18th Caribbean Geological Conference in Santo Domingo, warned that an earthquake in Haiti’s Enriquillo Fault Line was overdue.

The report that was presented by the geologists was extremely accurate and it predicted that the pressure that had been building up for more than two centuries would create an earthquake with a magnitude 7.

The level of built-up stress and energy in the earth could one day be released resulting in an earthquake measuring 7.2 or more on the Richter Scale. This would be an event of catastrophic proportions in a city with loose building codes, and an abundance of shanty-towns built in ravines and other undesirable locations.”

Despite the warnings, the Haitian government could not focus on mitigation efforts to prevent the impending destruction. Just hours after the earthquake hit on Tuesday, the Haitian Ambassador to the US told reporters that they “had been expecting this catastrophe.”

Haiti was in the process of recovering from 3 major hurricanes that hit the country over the past year. Scientists blame primarily the country’s location for its struggles with Mother Nature’s forces.

Editor’s Note:

News Junkie Post is urging all of its readers to make a donation for Haiti. At the moment  the emergency is a medical one, and the best organization to give to is Doctors Without Borders. Please follow them on Twitter and contribute as much as you can. Your generosity  could literally be a question of life or death for thousands of Haitians.

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