Information message about destructive earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010. |
| The earthquake with M=7.2 which caused victims and destructions has occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010 at 21:53 GMT (January 13, 01:53 Moscow time). |
| Parameters of the earthquake
have been determined in the Alert Service (AS) of Information
Processing Center (IPC) of Geophysical Survey of RAS in Obninsk with station data
obtained from digital and analog seismic stations of Russia, countries of CIS
and from abroad. Alert message on this earthquake has been delivered in 27 min after
registration to the Ministry of Emergency of the Russian Federation (EMERCOM). |
| Preliminary processing has been done with data from 37 stations, accurate processing - with data 51 stations. |
| Fig. 1 presents fragments of records obtained from digital stations Albuquerque (∆ 34.1º), College Outpost, Alaska (∆ 67.1º), Pulkovo (∆ 84.4º), Kiev (∆ 83º), Apeiranthos (∆ 85.2º), Obninsk (∆ 85.4º). Fig. 2 presents fragments of records obtained from digital stations Tiksi (∆ 88.8º), Kislovodsk (∆ 94.2º), Arti (∆ 94.8º), Petropavlovsk (∆ 96.1º), Garni (∆ 97.5º), Yakutsk (∆ 97.7º).
|
Figure 1
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Figure 2
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|
| IPC GS RAS also has obtained information with parameters of this event from some seismological centers, these data are given in table 1: |
| Table 1 |
| NN |
Time in origin h-min-s (GMT) |
Lat degr. |
Lon degr. |
Depth km |
N s/st |
Ms/ N |
mb/ N |
I0 calc |
GAP |
Center | | 1 |
21-53-08.3 |
18.46 |
-72.56 |
10 |
51 |
7.2/23 | 6.7/19 | 10-10.5 | 42 | IPC GS RAS (Accurate) | | 2 |
21-53-08.9 |
18.61 |
-72.6 |
10 |
37 |
7.1/15 | 7.1/7 | 10-10.5 | 86 | IPC GS RAS (Preliminary) | | 3 |
21-53-10.4 |
18.47 |
-72.56 |
10 |
238 |
7.2 Mw | | | 36 | CSEM | | 4 |
21-53-10.0 |
18.45 |
-72.45 |
10 |
103 |
7 Mw | 6.7 /91 | | 94 | NEIC | |
| IPC GS RAS - Informational Processing Center, Geophysical Survey, Russian Academy of Sciences |
| CSEM - European - Mediterranean seismological center |
| NEIC - National Earthquakes Information Center of US Geological Service |
| Epicenter |
| Fig.3 depicts with red star epicenter of this earthquake, which origin was located in Haiti at the depth of 10 km, this is 24 km W-S-W from Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, 75 km from Jimani of Dominican Republic and 24 km N-N-W from Jacmel.
|
Figure 3 |
|
| Aftershock |
| This earthquake was accompanied with numerous aftershocks. The most powerful of them with М=5.9 has occurred in 7 minutes after the main shock. Within ten hours after the main shock GS RAS registered 31 aftershocks with magnitudes М>4.6. The most significant of them with М>5 are presented in table. |
| N |
Date & Time (GMT)
yy-mm-dd hh:mm:sec |
Lat
degr. |
Lon
degr. |
Depth
km |
N
station |
Ms/ N |
mb/ N |
Io
calc. |
Region |
| 20100143 | 2010-01-12 22:00:41.0 | 18.52 | -72.69 | 10 | 21 | - | 5.9/ 14 | 7.5-8 | Haiti region | | 20100144 | 2010-01-12 22:12:03.0 | 18.59 | -72.55 | 10 | 17 | - | 5.8/ 11 | 7-7.5 | Haiti region | | 20100145 | 2010-01-12 23:12:03.0 | 18.56 | -72.48 | 10 | 20 | - | 5.5/ 10 | 6.5-7 | Haiti region | | 20100146 | 2010-01-12 23:27:35.0 | 18.84 | -72.81 | 10 | 10 | - | 5.1/ 7 | 5.5-6 | Haiti region | | 20100150 | 2010-01-13 00:43:25.0 | 18.49 | -72.36 | 10 | 16 | - | 5.2/ 9 | 5.5-6 | Haiti region | | 20100151 | 2010-01-13 00:59:03.0 | 18.42 | -72.91 | 10 | 14 | - | 5.3/ 11 | 6-6.5 | Haiti region | | 20100153 | 2010-01-13 01:16:51.0 | 18.78 | -72.66 | 10 | 14 | - | 5.2/ 9 | 5.5-6 | Haiti region | | 20100155 | 2010-01-13 01:32:43.0 | 18.58 | -72.94 | 10 | 23 | - | 5.5/ 14 | 6.5-7 | Haiti region | | 20100156 | 2010-01-13 01:36:31.0 | 18.29 | -73.09 | 10 | 24 | - | 5.6/ 18 | 6.5-7 | Haiti region | | 20100158 | 2010-01-13 01:57:33.0 | 18.59 | -72.98 | 10 | 25 | - | 5.5/ 16 | 6.5-7 | Haiti region | | 20100159 | 2010-01-13 02:11:28.0 | 18.38 | -73.04 | 10 | 14 | - | 5.1/ 8 | 5.5-6 | Haiti region | | 20100162 | 2010-01-13 02:43:45.0 | 18.52 | -72.93 | 10 | 16 | - | 5.1/ 10 | 5.5-6 | Haiti region | | 20100167 | 2010-01-13 05:02:56.0 | 18.34 | -72.91 | 10 | 18 | - | 5.7/ 8 | 7-7.5 | Haiti region | | 20100168 | 2010-01-13 05:18:01.0 | 18.49 | -72.88 | 10 | 13 | - | 5.3/ 8 | 6-6.5 | Haiti region | |
| Macroseismic manifestations |
| The number of victims in Haiti reached 170 thousands of people. Associated Press reported that this information about the killed people was announced on January 28, 2010 by Rene Preval – the president of Haiti. Earlier it was reported about 150 thousands of people. Numerous buildings including Presidential Palace in the capital Port-au-Prince lay in debris. Densely populated blocks of the city are almost totally destroyed. Seriously damaged or totally destroyed are the building of the World Bank and Japanese Embassy. Underground shocks were felt in the neighboring Dominican Republic and in Cuba. After estimation of official authorities nearly 250 thousands of people were injured after this natural disaster, nearly 1 million people became homeless. The authorities reported that the list of the victims in the short time from now may reach 200-300 thousands of people. |
Figure 4 |
|
| Historical records |
| Fig.5 presents the map with epicenters of historically significant earthquakes which occurred in the region of Haiti within the period of 1955 - 2008 in accordance with seismological bulletin. |
Figure 5 |
|
| Focal mechanism and seismic moment of the earthquake |
| Focal mechanism solutions of the earthquake, which occurred on January 12, 2010 at 21:53 GMT were obtained in NEIC USA, USGS and Global CMT Catalog USA with CMT technique and are presented in table 2 and fig. 6,7. All solutions are identical. The motion along both planes – drifts with uplift components: along NP1 plane – right side drift, along NP2 – left side drift. The earthquake has occurred under prevailing action of N-E oriented compression forces. Both nodal planes are rather steeply falling (falling angles DP=64º-70º). Direction of propagation for NP1 in USGS solution – north-west, in CMT Catalog solution – south-east; direction of propagation for NP2 in USGS solution – north-east, in CMT Catalog solution – south-west.
The value of seismic moment Мо of this earthquake on January 12, 2010 obtained in IPC GS RAS from spectra of Р-waves registered at Obninsk station (Δ 85.37º) makes Мо=5.1* 10** 19 n*m, the value of moment magnitude calculated from Kanamori formula makes Mw = 7.1.
The value of seismic moment Мо calculated by USGS makes 4.5* 10** 19 b*m, the value of moment magnitude makes Mw = 7.0. In accordance with Global CMT Catalog – Мо= 4.74* 10** 19 n*m, Mw = 7.1. |
| Table 2 |
| Axes of main strengths |
Nodal planes |
Center |
| T |
P |
N |
NP1 |
NP2 |
| Pl |
Azm |
Pl |
Azm |
Pl |
Azm |
Stk |
Dp |
Slip |
Stk |
Dp |
Slip |
| 35 | 289 | 2 | 21 |
54 | 115 | 330 | 68 | 151 | 71 |
64 | 25 | NEIC | | 33 | 113 | 4 | 20 |
56 | 284 | 151 | 64 | 158 | 251 |
70 | 28 | Quick CMT | |
| NEIC - National Earthquakes Information Center of US Geological Service |
| Quick CMT - Quick CMT catalog |
Figure 6 | 
Figure 7 |
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