Earthquake in Haiti

If they want to send monetary help for the damaged ones, I recommend his donations to do across Oxfam America, Caritas Haiti or of International solidarity.
On Tuesday, the 12th of January at 21:53 GMT (16:53 local time) happened a strong earthquake to 15 km from the city of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The seismological services have registered it with magnitudes of:
7.0 USGS (USA) Informs That I Brought 7.1 EMSC (Europe)
Until now about 40 replies have registered, as it can be appreciated on the page of the USGS (or by means of his file of Google Earth), the page of the EMSC or in Google Earthquake.
To extend map

The epicenter corresponds to the red point, while the first 5 replies correspond to the green points. I will try to update the map with the new replies shortly. In blue I have planned a portion of the flaw of course that would have generated the principal earthquake. A more finished representation of the system of flaws can be seen further on.
Next we have 2 maps of intensities of the USGS:
This first map shows the theoretical intensities (generated from a model) of the USGS. The intensities and the colors correspond to the Scale of Mercalli. In this case intensities of IX and X would have been reached, which is worrying for the possible effects described in the scale:

IX. Ruinous: Widespread panic. Considerable damages in specializing structures, walls out of lead. Big damages in important buildings, with partial collapses. Buildings displaced out of the bases. X. Disastrous: Some destroyed structures of well built wood. Most of the structures of masonry and the frame destroyed with his bases. Double rails.

This second map shows the received reports of intensity, where the circle size indicates the number of reports for locality. Until now the intensities have reached values of VIII in the Scale of Mercalli in the most nearby areas. Also it is possible to observe big reports quantity from Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica, where the biggest intensities would have reached values of V, IV and II respectively.

In this map there appears the disposition of 2 systems of principal flaws in the region. The USGS has published an explanation on this matter (square brackets and linkage added by me):

The earthquake happened in the contact of the Badge of the Caribbean Sea [low end of the figure] and the North American Badge [top end of the figure]. This limit between both badges is characterized by a course movement sinestral and compressively, with a speed of 20mm/año, in that the Badge of the Caribbean Sea moves to the east with regard to the North American Badge.
(...) The movement of both badges distributes between two systems of principal flaws, with felt east-west [approximately horizontal in the image] - to the north of Haiti there is the North system of flaws [top horizontal line], and on the south there finds the flaws system Enriquillo [low horizontal line]. (...) The place and focal mechanism of the earthquake indicate his origin in the system of flaws Enriquillo.
This flaws system has not generated a strong earthquake in recent decades. He believes as well as it would be the source of big historical earthquakes in 1860, 1770, 1761, 1751, 1684, 1673 and 1618, although none of these events has been confirmed by field remarks.

The PTWC expressed a tsunami alert for the region of the Caribbean Sea. This one was cancelled time later, with the following report:

A wave of 12 cm tsunami registered in Santo Domingo, in Dominican Republic, while an almost 1 cm wave was registered in an oceanic buoy in the region centred this one of the Caribbean Sea. Based on this information, destructive tsunami waves might have happened close to the epicenter, although they would not mean a threat for the localities removed from the coast. Therefore, the alert of tsunami expressed by this center will be cancelled.

The height of 12 cm wave would not be of major worry for the coastal cities of Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, there are still no reports on waves on the coasts of Haiti, which might, or not, have reached major heights. Any way due to the big damage that has caused the earthquake, any disadvantage that could have brought a moderate tsunami would go on to background.
The centers of news begin bringing the inevitable destruction of housings and fatalities caused by the earthquake. The Country reports:

The sudden movement of ground - worse that it has registered in this country in two centuries - was fattened by the capital, Port-au-Prince, where the material damages have been large and the mortal victims are counted by tens thousands, according to the authorities. The Haitian president has thought that the earthquake can have left between 30.000 50.000 dead persons although it has admitted that it still has not been possible to realize an "evaluation" on the consequences of the catastrophe. The prime minister, Jean Max Bellerive, has coded "in more than 100.000" the deceased because of the earthquake. The numbers dance is a reflex of the chaos through that the country lives, 24 hours after the catastrophe that has plunged Haiti in the desperation.
The Red Cross, for lack of official numbers, calculates in more than three millions the damaged ones. "We have to do an evaluation", has admitted Préval in his first public declarations realized to the newspaper Miami Herald, qualifying the scene in the capital of "unimaginable". "The Parliament has collapsed, the Treasury Department office has collapsed, the schools have collapsed, the hospitals have collapsed", he has told. The ex-president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, also has qualified the situation as "a tragedy that it defies to the comprehension".
Several buildings have collapsed completely, between them a hospital and a school. The walls of a jail of Port-au-Prince also have collapsed, provoking the massive prisoners escape, report the authorities. Also it has incurred considerable losses the building of five apartments that lodges the mission of United Nations (UNO) and the presidential palace, although the ambassador of Haiti in Mexico has confirmed that the president Préval is healthy and safe. The archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Monsignor Serge Miot, is between the mortal victims, as has informed the news agency MISNA.

The communications still could not be re-established in the affected cities, and till now the news only comes from the capital, Port-au-Prince, which is worrying since the bordering populations of minor resources would be the most affected.
In the same news about The Country it is informed about the effects of the earthquake in Dominican Republic:

The earthquake has felt also with intensity largely of the nearby Dominican Republic, as has told the chief of the Civil Defender, Luis Luna Paulino. This organism has begun to obtain immediately information of the effects caused by the movement, although it has not been informed about injured men in the Dominican part of the island of The Spaniard, has told this official. "In Saint John of the Maguana he has felt very strong, and also we take points reports as Nagua (in the North-East), of cardinal (Santo Domingo) and of San Isidro (to the east of Santo Domingo)".

In twitter, the user @marvinady was the first one in sharing photos of the disaster, taken the announcer of radio Haitian Carel Pedre. One day later, the diverse mass media have done the proper thing. Here I connect to some photos galleries:
BBC World
The Country
The Big Picture
Let's hope that with the whole help that is sent, Haiti, and especially his cardinal Port-au-Prince, it could recover in a short term.
More news about earthquakes in the world in Seismology.
Blogalaxia Tags: earthquake quake earthquake haiti puerto+principe republica+dominicana 12+de+enero 20109 7.0 magnitude intensity photos videos map geology google+earth you answer epicenter USGS
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