Friday, June 24, 2011

EARTHQUAKE AFTERSHOCK TODAY

It has been quiet with aftershocks for awhile but we had a surprise this morning. I was in my room when the ground briefly started to shake. I knew what it was and ran through the house to go outside. In the running I ran out of one of the sandals and ended up outside wearing only one sandal. While I was running all I could think was "that's great... if the house falls I only have one sandal". Sort of funny I thought. Manu just stood there and laughed. He thought it was funny seeing me run out of the house for nothing. The news article follows below:


HAITI - EARTHQUAKE: NEW AFTERSHOCK THIS MORNING
(HaitiLibre) -

This morning shortly after 9am (9h06), an earthquake was felt in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. It was felt at the level of Pélerin, Petion-Ville, Frères, Champs de Mars... In some neighborhoods the inhabitants panicked and left their homes for the street.

The magnitude and location of this aftershock is not known at present (see update below) and has not been reported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), while it appears on the seismographs of the Collège Catts Pressoir and of Lycée Alexandre Dumas (French lycée).

Brigitte Gimenez, Principal of the French lycée confirmed she had a phone conversation with Eric Calais, a French seismologist, and that the latter told her that "the earthquake was of magnitude 3.7". See the data from the USGS below

"We recorded seven minor injuries in hospital, including a 7-year, two students from the State University of Port-au-Prince, two schoolchildren and two young adults", said Dr. Alix Lassègue, who stated that these people were injured when the people rushed into the streets.

The French lycée was evacuated, indicated Brigitte Gimenez. We evacuated the school, noting that the quake was recorded by the seismological station at the school, which houses 670 students.

UPDATE USGS : The quake occurred this morning at 9h06 and 45 seconds, with a magnitude of 3.5 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was located 10 km deep, in a mountainous region, 13 km south of Carrefour, 17 km south-southwest of Port-au-Prince and 17 km southwest of Petionville.

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