Shaken island - pp737

doi:10.1038/ngeo1013

Geophysical analyses of the 2010 Haiti earthquake suggest that there is still potential for seismic activity in the region. Building a more resilient country is the only option.

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Built-in resilience - pp739 - 740

Michael K. Lindell

doi:10.1038/ngeo998

The 2010 Haiti earthquake showed that building codes must be adopted and strictly enforced. Furthermore, timely disaster recovery requires these codes to be supplemented by comprehensive hazard insurance programmes.

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Beyond bricks and mortar - pp740 - 741

Arthur L. Lerner-Lam

doi:10.1038/ngeo1003

Geoscience has played a key role in the recovery of Haiti since the earthquake, but warnings were not heeded in the political sphere. Along with better houses, an adaptive disaster-management infrastructure that incorporates science needs to be built.

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Structural geology: Invisible faults under shaky ground - pp743 - 745

Roger Bilham

doi:10.1038/ngeo1000

The Haiti earthquake ruptured one or more buried faults, generated tsunamis and caused extensive structural damage in Port-au-Prince. Investigations in the epicentral region quantify seismic hazards but offer no clear views of Haiti's seismic future.

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Localized damage caused by topographic amplification during the 12 January 2010 M7.0 Haiti earthquake - pp778 - 782

Susan E. Hough, Jean Robert Altidor, Dieuseul Anglade, Doug Given, M. Guillard Janvier, J. Zebulon Maharrey, Mark Meremonte, Bernard Saint-Louis Mildor, Claude Prepetit & Alan Yong

doi:10.1038/ngeo988

Microzonation maps use local geological conditions to characterize seismic hazard, but do not generally consider topography. Ground motions during the Haiti earthquake are found to have been significantly amplified along a high topographic ridge, which caused substantial structural damage, indicating that topography can play an important role in seismic hazard.

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High tsunami frequency as a result of combined strike-slip faulting and coastal landslides - pp783 - 788

Matthew J. Hornbach, Nicole Braudy, Richard W. Briggs, Marie-Helene Cormier, Marcy B. Davis, John B. Diebold, Nicole Dieudonne, Roby Douilly, Cliff Frohlich, Sean P. S. Gulick, Harold E. Johnson III, Paul Mann, Cecilia McHugh, Katherine Ryan-Mishkin, Carol S. Prentice, Leonardo Seeber, Christopher C. Sorlien, Michael S. Steckler, Steeve Julien Symithe, Frederick W. Taylor & John Templeton

doi:10.1038/ngeo975

The 12 January 2010 M_w 7.0 Haiti earthquake exhibited primarily strike-slip motion but unusually generated a tsunami. An extensive field survey reveals that coastal strike-slip fault systems produce relief conducive to rapid sedimentation, erosion and slope failure, so that even modest predominantly strike-slip earthquakes can cause potentially catastrophic slide-generated tsunamis.

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Seismic hazard of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault in Haiti inferred from palaeoseismology - pp789 - 793

C. S. Prentice, P. Mann, A. J. Crone, R. D. Gold, K. W. Hudnut, R. W. Briggs, R. D. Koehler & P. Jean

doi:10.1038/ngeo991

The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone is the primary plate-bounding fault system in Haiti and was initially thought to be responsible for the 2010 earthquake. Palaeoseismic analyses of the fault system indicate that it ruptured during a large earthquake in either 1750 or 1770, but did not rupture the surface during the 2010 earthquake.

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Transpressional rupture of an unmapped fault during the 2010 Haiti earthquake - pp794 - 799

Eric Calais, Andrew Freed, Glen Mattioli, Falk Amelung, Sigurjón Jónsson, Pamela Jansma, Sang-Hoon Hong, Timothy Dixon, Claude Prépetit & Roberte Momplaisir

doi:10.1038/ngeo992

The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden strike-slip fault accommodates the relative motion between the North American and Caribbean plates and was thought to have ruptured during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Satellite data instead indicate that a blind thrust fault, possibly related to the Haitian fold-thrust belt, was responsible and caused some contractional deformation.

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Complex rupture during the 12 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake - pp800 - 805

G. P. Hayes, R. W. Briggs, A. Sladen, E. J. Fielding, C. Prentice, K. Hudnut, P. Mann, F. W. Taylor, A. J. Crone, R. Gold, T. Ito & M. Simons

doi:10.1038/ngeo977

Initially, the devastating 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake seemed to involve straightforward accommodation of the motion between the Caribbean and North American plates. A combination of seismological observations, geologic field data and space geodetic measurements shows that the rupture process may have involved slip on multiple faults, but lacked significant surface deformation.

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Esprit de corps in Haiti - pp808

Matthew Hornbach et al.

doi:10.1038/ngeo997

Matthew J. Hornbach and colleagues navigated shallow debris-filled waters in an attempt to understand the factors that contributed to tsunami generation during the Haiti earthquake.

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After the shock - pE1

Susan Hough et al.

doi:10.1038/ngeo996

Susan Hough and colleagues faced logistical challenges when attempting to deploy portable seismometers in post-earthquake Port-au-Prince.

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