Haiti Earthquake 2010 - why it happen?

Scientifically



The Caribbean island nation of Haiti has been beset by a series of natural disasters in recent years, experiencing four devastating tropical storms in 2008.

Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake will only further complicate living conditions for residents of the poverty-stricken country where 80 per cent of Haiti's nearly nine million people live below the poverty line.

The movement of Caribbean plate
The quake occurred in the vicinity of the northern boundary where the Caribbean tectonic plate shifts eastwards by about 20 mm per year relative to the North American plate. The strike-slip fault system in the region has two branches in Haiti, the Septentrional fault in the north and the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault in the south; both its location and focal mechanism suggest that the January 2010 quake was caused by rupture of the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault, which had been locked solid for 250 years, gathering stress. The stress would ultimately have been relieved either by a large earthquake or a series of smaller ones. The rupture of this Mw 7.0 earthquake was roughly 65 kilometres (40 mi) long with mean slip of 1.8 metres (5.9 ft). Preliminary analysis of the slip distribution found amplitudes of up to about 4 metres (13 ft) using ground motion records from all over the world

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Religion: Pat Robertson's claim of Haiti's pact with the devil

About 95% of the population claim Christian beliefs, although the most professed denomination by far is Roman Catholicism. Similar to the rest of Latin America, Haiti was colonized during a period during which Roman Catholicism was prevalent among European monarchs. Following in this legacy, Catholicism is enshrined in the Haitian constitution as the official state religion, and between 80 and 85% of Haitians are Catholics. But most also practice Voodoo, which along with Catholicism is an official state religion. Voodoo is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples, (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Roman Catholic Christianity

Pat Robertson's response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake drew controversy. Robertson claimed that Haiti's founders had sworn a "pact to the Devil" in order to liberate themselves from the French slave owners and indirectly attributed the earthquake to the consequences of the Haitian people being "cursed" for doing so. CBN later issued a statement saying that Robertson's comments "were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Dutty Boukman at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French." Various prominent voices of mainline and evangelical Christianity promptly denounced Robertson's remarks.

Haiti religious people - Local Haitians' view

Deeply religious Haitians see the hand of God in the destruction of Biblical proportions visited on their benighted country. The quake, religious leaders said Sunday, is evidence that He wants change. Exactly what change He wants depends on the faith: Some Christians say it's a sign that Haitians must deepen their faith, while some Voodoo followers see God's judgment on corruption among the country's mostly light-skinned elite.

As desperate believers gathered to pray Sunday across the shattered capital, the Rev. Eric Toussaint told a congregation gathered outside the ruined cathedral that the earthquake ''is a sign from God, saying that we must recognize his power.''

Haitians, he said, ''need to reinvent themselves, to find a new path to God.''

No matter what is the reason, Now Haitian are suffering, they need helps

......"People are becoming more aggressive because they need food and water," said a 29-year-old survivor named Sherley, "As we start to figure out that our loved ones are not going to be found, it is as if we are finally understanding what is happening to us. Today, people are fighting to survive."......

Thanksgiving

Yet in the capital drumbeats still called the faithful to mass at a collapsed cathedral in a city smelling of death. The Rev Eric Toussaint said: “Why give thanks to God? Because we are here. “We say, ‘Thank you God.’ What happened is the will of God. We are in the hands of God now.”