Haiti in Context

On January 12th the world was held captive to the tragedy of the 7.0 earth- quake in Haiti. It was a major shift of a minor fault line in an impoverished nation. Tens--if not hundreds--of thousands of people died and suffered life altering injuries. But this is not the entire story.

The world is a shacking.

The Washington Post described an incident were upon at the beginning of the temblor students from a Virginia Community College in Haiti on a study mission witnessed women tearing off their clothes and crying out to God in the belief that the quake was the apocalypse. Can you even imagine such abject ignorance? Yet, the world is a shaking.

In the last 30 days there have been several earth quakes that have occurred in the range of 6.0 to 6.9. And another even more powerful 7.1 quake.
December 23 - 6.0 - Indonesia
December 24 - 6.3 - Russia
December 26 - 6.1 - Banda Sea (off the coast of Indonesia)
December 31 - 6.0 - Pacific Arctic Ocean (most quakes occur below the oceans)
January 1 - 6.1 - Mariana Islands
January 3 - 6.6 - Solomon Islands
January 3 - 7.1 - Solomon Islands
January 5 - 6.8 - South Sandwich Islands
January 5 - 6.8 - Solomon Islands
January 5 - 6.0 - Solomon Islands
January 9 - 6.2 - Solomon Islands
January 10 - 6.5 - Pacific of off Northern California
January 14 - 6.0 - Mariana Islands
January 17 - 6.3 - Drake Passage


The World is a shaking.

Haiti shook on January 12th to the toon of 7.0. And then kept shaking....

January 12 - 7.0
January 12 - 5.9 (7 minutes later)
January 12 - 5.5 (12 minutes later)
January 12 - 4.6 (55 minutes later)
January 12 - 5.1 (5 minutes later)
January 12 - 4.8 (15 minutes later)
January 12 - 4.5 (8 minutes later)
January 12 - 4.5 (12 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.8 (36 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.0 (20 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.2 (16 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.6 (6 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.1 (11 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.6 (8 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.3 (8 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.4 (4 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.9 (19 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.4 (2 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.0 (14 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.6 (6 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.7 (9 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.7 (17 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.5 (11 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.6 (23 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.7 (14 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.8 (1 hour & 31 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.2 (16 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.9 (6 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.7 (25 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.6 (35 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.5 (24 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.5 (10 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.0 (1 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.5 (5 hours & 5 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.7 (13 minutes later)
January 13 - 5.3 (2 hours & 2 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.6 (4 hours & 11 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.8 (2 hours & 32 minutes later)
January 13 - 4.9 (55 minutes later)

And that's what life is like in Haiti. The World is a shaking.

I've only been in one earthquake in my life. A 4.5 quake in Costa Rica back in 1984. But it tossed me off of my bed and sent all of the residents of my apartment building screaming and scrambling into the street.

And then on January 20th a 5.9 quake -- a quake on its own, not an aftershock.... The World is a Shaking.