Earthquake in Haiti: Visible from Orbit
EmailThe earthquake in Haiti was not a surprise to the world's seismologists; the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault that caused it is visible from space as an almost-straight east-west line passing south of Port-au-Prince.
NASA has sent several images from different spacecraft, and they're sobering. This one, from the EO-1 Earth Observing satellite on Friday, shows Port-au-Prince as a gray smudge in the center of the picture. The Plantain Garden Fault is not very clear in this image, but it cuts from east to west, just south of the shoreline stretching to the left of the city. Click on images to enlarge.
This image, from the commercially-operated GeoEye-1 satellite on the day after the earthquake, shows some buildings reduced to rubble. GeoEye-1 orbits 425 miles above the earth, but people show up as dark dots in the picture.
Here is another GeoEye view from Wednesday. You still see roofs and streets, but NASA's Natural Hazards program says not to be lulled. "Geometric shapes define structures that appear undamaged from above, but this appearance may be deceptive. The buildings may be damaged under an intact roof," writes Holli Riebeek in an explanation.
(Image credits: NASA (top), GeoEye (bottom two))
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Pictures so defined and we cannot find Osama Bin Laden! It makes no sense
Posted by: paul | January 18, 2010, 7:18 pm 7:18 pm
excellent work from NASA
Posted by: octavio | January 18, 2010, 7:40 pm 7:40 pm
Imagine what NY would look after something like this.
Posted by: Sober Jones | January 19, 2010, 12:19 am 12:19 am
Sober Jones: NY would probably fare far better after such a quake as construction methods are far better. Also, it’s not likely to see a major one in the next few thousand years as it’s not near an active fault line.
Posted by: Roger | January 19, 2010, 6:12 am 6:12 am
It’s more likely that the New Madrid line in the Midwest will cause an earthquake far worse than the San Francisco earthquake. Experts think it could topple skyscrapers in downtown Chicago, and re-reverse the course of the Chicago River, causing massive flooding to most of the downtown buildings.
Posted by: Sharon | January 19, 2010, 6:45 am 6:45 am
Why havent we heard of any problems in Domnician Republic? They share the same island.
Posted by: ARthur | January 19, 2010, 11:58 am 11:58 am
why cant we send the peaple from haiti to new york city for a better life
Posted by: wilson colon jr | January 20, 2010, 9:16 am 9:16 am
i think its a shame that something like this can happen but common sense its not like its something inexpeceted.
Posted by: alicia | January 20, 2010, 11:52 am 11:52 am
They don’t want to find Bin Ladin. He is a ploy to get what they want.
Posted by: God | January 20, 2010, 1:34 pm 1:34 pm
Hi! I’m from Dominican Republic, right now news are so painful to see, specially because this could happen in this country too, we share the same island with Haiti but this fault is not under our territory. I felt the earthquake here, I live in the north part of the Island, here was like 4.5 but we also have other active faults that caused bigger erthquakes in our territory. It’s scary to live with but that our reality, this could happen to us anytime…
Posted by: carol P. | January 20, 2010, 1:52 pm 1:52 pm
What sucks about the earthquake is that people had no idea it was coming. Very sad because of this thounands are dead.
Posted by: Cheyenne | January 20, 2010, 2:57 pm 2:57 pm
Oh god yess!
Mmmmgey.:)
Posted by: pewp | February 9, 2010, 2:15 pm 2:15 pm
all of the haters need to shutup
Posted by: anaomoys | September 2, 2010, 6:39 pm 6:39 pm
and for nice people who are sending nice stuff about Haiti you should feel good about yourself
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