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ARTICLE 7.2ONTHERICHTERSCALE TheHaitiEarthquake AshiftingofthetectonicplatesbeneaththecityofLéogâne,some15kilometres south-westofPort-au-Prince,thecapitalofHaiti,onJanuary12th2010causeda severeearthquake,magnitude7.2ontheRichterScale. TheislandofHaitisitsonthenorthernedgeofoneofthesmallestoftheworld's tectonicplates,theCaribbeanPlate,forthemostpartoceanicandunderlying CentralAmericaandtheCaribbeanSea.Itisroughly3.2millionsquarekilometres inareaandborderstheNorthAmerican,theSouthAmerican,theNazcaandthe CocosPlates.TheedgesoftheCaribbeanPlatefeatureregionsofintenseseismic activity,causingfrequentearthquakes,occasionaltsunamisandvolcanic eruptions. Whenmanmadeornaturaldisasterstrikes,awiderangeofgeospatialintelligencesaveslives.Thedamagerenderspeople homelessanddeprivesthemofwaterandfood.Buildingscollapse,blockingroads.Communicationnetworks,waterpipes andotherinfrastructurearedisrupted.Aidbecomesstrandedattheairport.Sinceitisoftenimpossibletoassessthefull impactofadisasterontheground,aerialandsatellitephotographsofthepresentandpastsituationprovideamajoraidto disastermanagement.Afterearthquake,newimageryhelpsinthedetectionofday-to-daychangeandplaysanimportantrole aslongasaftershockscontinue.Reasonablynewtothecurrentscenarioisthatfast-gatheredgeographicalinformationis availableviaeasy-to-useviewersontheweb. GoogleandGeoEye,forexample,haveworkedcloselytomakeavailableGeoEyesatelliteimageryofHaitiasaKMLoverlayfor GoogleEarth.YoucandownloadtheKML(1)andopenitinGoogleEarth,orviewitviaabrowserplug-in.TheseGIMpages showaGeoEyehalf-meterresolutionsatelliteimageoftheToussaintL'OuvertureInternationalAirport,Port-au-Prince.The imageclearlyshowsmultipleaircraft,suppliesandpersonnelontheground.TheimagewastakenbytheGeoEye-1satelliteat 10:37a.m.ESTonJanuary16,2010.Anothereasy-to-useexampleistheESRIFlexViewerapplicationthatenablesusersto quicklypanaroundtheglobeandmapanumberofvariablesfromvariousdatafeeds,includingreportsfromtheUSGS earthquakemonitoringstations.Themapisnowavailablethroughourwebsite(secondlinkbelow). https://www.gim-international.com/content/article/the-haiti-earthquake
