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Field-by-field comparison
Initial edition
Haiti Earthquake
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A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Haiti's densely populated capital region at 4:53 p.m. on 12 January 2010. Shallow strong motion, vulnerable construction, and concentrated government and social infrastructure produced catastrophic collapse in Port-au-Prince, Léogâne, and surrounding communities. The disaster killed an uncertain but enormous number of people, displaced many more, and disrupted the institutions needed to organize recovery.
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12 January 2010
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Léogâne and the epicentral area
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Haiti entered 2010 with deep poverty, limited public services, dense informal settlement, and little consistent enforcement of earthquake-resistant construction. Concrete and masonry buildings often carried heavy roofs without adequate detailing. The region had known destructive earthquakes historically, but the capital's rapid growth had not been matched by broad seismic preparation or resilient infrastructure.
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The earthquake ruptured a fault system near the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates. Its shallow depth and proximity to the metropolitan region produced violent shaking. Buildings failed within seconds, landslides and ground deformation blocked routes, and serious aftershocks repeatedly threatened damaged structures during rescue and field assessment.
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Residents, local responders, and international teams searched unstable ruins while hospitals, ministries, police facilities, schools, churches, and the main port were damaged or destroyed. Port and road failures slowed incoming assistance. Large temporary settlements formed, families left the disaster area, and the loss of public records and personnel complicated every stage of relief and reconstruction.
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The recovery combined Haitian decisions with an unusually large and fragmented international aid effort. Housing, land tenure, debris removal, public administration, and safer construction remained difficult long after emergency operations ended. The earthquake also changed global practice in satellite damage mapping and prompted renewed attention to how governance and building vulnerability turn shaking into catastrophe.
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The Haiti earthquake demonstrates that magnitude alone does not determine disaster. Construction quality, institutional capacity, poverty, access, and the location of critical services shaped who survived and how recovery proceeded. It also warns that international attention cannot substitute for durable local systems.
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Rebuilt institutions, altered neighborhoods, memorial practices, and surviving ruins carry the earthquake's record, although redevelopment has erased or transformed many visible traces. The fault system and steep terrain remain, as do continuing debates about housing, aid accountability, and resilient construction.
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Death estimates differ dramatically because records, definitions, and counting systems collapsed with the city. Magnitude values also vary slightly between early reports and later analysis. The pin is a reviewed epicentral-area marker, not a claim that damage or fault movement was confined to one point.
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Chaos Tourist editorial
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The Mw 7.0 Haiti Earthquake of January 12, 2010: Advance Reconnaissance Team Report
7.0 Quake Near Port Au Prince
Haiti Earthquake Post-Disaster Needs Assessment
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A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Haiti's densely populated capital region at 4:53 p.m.
The earthquake ruptured a fault system near the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates.
Death estimates differ dramatically because records, definitions, and counting systems collapsed with the city.
The Haiti earthquake demonstrates that magnitude alone does not determine disaster.