Earthquakes

Earthquakes

Sichuan Earthquake:
On the afternoon of May 12, 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province, a mountainous region in Western China, killing about 70,000 people and leaving over 18,000 missing. Over 15 million people lived in the affected area, including almost 4 million in the city of Chengdu.
In June 2008, low-lying areas in one of the towns most devastated by the earthquake were flooded as a torrent of water was released from a dangerous lake formed by landslides, dislodging wrecked homes, cars and corpses.
The surge of floodwater into the town, Beichuan, was part of an effort by engineers and soldiers to drain Tangjiashan, one of more than 30 so-called quake lakes that were formed by landslides. For weeks, the dam of rock and mud holding back the rising waters of the Jian River there had threatened to burst and flood towns and cities downstream that are home to 1.3 million people.
Another smaller earthquake struck the region in August 2008, damaging 258,000 homes and killing at least 32 people.


Haiti Earthquake
One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, Haiti in recent years has struggled with problems ranging from near-constant political upheaval, health crises, severe environmental degradation and an annual barrage of hurricanes.
On Jan. 12, 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, reducing much of its capital to rubble. It was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years. A study by the Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the cost could be between $7.2 billion to $13.2 billion, based on a death toll from 200,000 to 250,000. The devastation created serious obstacles to those attempting to deliver promised foreign aid.
Huge swaths of the capital, Port-au-Prince, lay in ruins, and thousands of people were trapped in the rubble of government buildings, foreign aid offices and shantytowns. Schools, hospitals and a prison collapsed.
Haiti occupies an area roughly the size of Maryland on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Nearly all of the 8.7 million residents are of African descent and speak Creole and French. The capital is Port-au-Prince.
The country is, by a significant margin, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, with four out of five people living in poverty and more than half in abject poverty. Deforestation and over-farming have left much of Haiti eroded and barren, undermining subsistence farming efforts, driving up food prices and leaving the country even more vulnerable to natural disasters. Its long history of political instability and corruption has added to the turmoil.
Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike and Tropical Storm Fay landed within the space of a month in August and September 2008. Nationally, damages came to a total of $900 million, or nearly 15 percent of the gross domestic product. The national toll was 800 dead, down from 2004 when 3,000 perished.
Haiti needs jobs, a particular challenge in the current economic climate. Haitians often seek work in the United States, but that safety valve has been squeezed given the recession. With some 900,000 youths expected to come into the job market in the next five years, dismal prospects are the main threat to stability


Reference: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/earthquakes/sichuan_province_china/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=Sichuan%20Earthquake&st=cse
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/haiti/index.html?scp=2&sq=haiti%20earthquakes&st=cse