There was a major (M7.2) earthquake in Haiti this morning, striking a populated area in the southwest of the country, along the same fault system that produced the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake (the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone). The earthquake occurred ~125 km west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and is expected to produce significant numbers of fatalities and economic damage in the epicentral area. Our Ground Failure tool, developed in conjunction with the USGS, predicts significant landslide impacts near the earthquake’s epicenter.
Major earthquake in Haiti:
Location: 18.352N, 73.480W (12.1 km (~7.5 mi) NE of Saint-Louis du Sud, Haiti)
Magnitude: 7.2
Depth: 10 km (6 miles) beneath earth’s surface
Universal Time (UTC): 14 Aug 2021 12:29:09
Time near the Epicenter: 14 Aug 2021 08:29:09 AM
Note that the earthquake occurred just 31 minutes after another major event, a M6.9 earthquake offshore Alaska, so the two seismograms are merged on this record.
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