The Earthquakes in Haiti by Brian Dukes

The Earthquakes in Haiti by Brian DukesI’m sure you all know by now that there has been a tragedy in Haiti.  A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck about 6.2 miles below the surface of the earth, the shallower the quake the more devastating the effects, and about 10 miles southwest of the capital city of Port-au-Prince.  This quake has completely devastated this country which also is unfortunate to hold the honor of the poorest country located in the Western Hemisphere.

As if being poor and destitute then getting hit with a large scale earthquake isn’t bad enough this is just the latest in a long listing of disasters to have struck this island nation.  Almost every year for the past ten Haiti has suffered from either tropical storms, hurricanes or flooding.  Apparently Haiti just is suffering from bad luck, which is all the more reason for those of us whom have the abilities to step in and offer aid should.

I can’t express how great I felt logging onto Twitter last week and seeing news articles, personal tweets and re-tweets from all of the people I follow, which given is less than 100, about texting to donate money or people letting others know where a local drop off is for clothing or non-perishable food items.  It made my heart grow 2 sizes too big, kinda like the Grinch. As a nation I can see that though we may appear to be guarded and bullies of the world we are actually making strides as a nation and individuals to reach out to those whom are truly in need.  I’m not saying I don’t believe or know or realize that as a nation we are in the midst of trouble ourselves but I believe we are still much more fortunate than most and we should still share what we have with all.

Now as the rescue efforts are continuing on their way and the U.S. has given millions of dollars in aide relief and 1000 of man hours. We are hit again with another earthquake in the Caribbean.  The Grand Cayman Islands had were rattled early in the morning by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake one week after the disastrous Haitian quake.  Luckily though in the case of the Grand Cayman quake there were only reports of minor damages, no fallen structures and zero casualties.  This also comes after a Monday earthquake in Guatemala at a magnitude of 6.0, there was also little damage and no casualties in this quake.  But the fact that in a one week time span we had 3 high magnitude quakes centered in the same area of the world is quite frightening.

I hope we can learn from these other two earthquakes that have happened and while the U.S. is assisting in the rebuilding of Haiti we can impart some sort of standard in some of their structures so that if another earthquake were to happen again possibly there would not be as wide spread damage as there was this time.  That possibly we may be able to help their government set up a plan to help keep their citizens safe after another natural disaster.  Allow them to have safe water and food to sustain their people while in the rebuilding phase. These are all just hopes and ideas that I have for us, for Haiti for the world.  And as of right now it appears that as a world, we are capable of coming together to help when it is necessary.