Blog #1

Haitian earthquake

The Haitian earthquake struck the island's capital, Port-au-Prince, shortly before 5 p.m. The earthquake was measured a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter magnitude scale. The earthquake was the strongest earthquake recorded to hit the island. The island became a dystopia for the many people who were in the island at the time. Many of the buildings in Port-au-Prince were damaged, including the president of Haiti's, Rene Preval, presidential palace. He stated that his home, where he resident at the time, had crumbled, "on the right side of the street and the left side of the street." Other places such as a hospital and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters collapsed. The earthquake damaged the city due it close proximity to the city and poorly build housing. This a total devastation for Haiti as it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. In fact, 80% of Haiti's nine million people live below the poverty line, according to CIA World Factbook. The world needs to help as much a as possible because many of the people will die of starvation but also from dead bodies that are pathogenic.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/12/haiti.earthquake/index.html