Haiti Earthquake Pictures

The most powerful earthquake to hit the island nation of Haiti struck at 4:53 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 12, 2010.  The monstrous quake, which measured more than 7.0 on the Richter scale, has almost completely destroyed the nation's capitol of Port-au-Prince, leveling or severely damaging around 60 percent of the city.  The devastation is only now truly coming to light as Haiti earthquake pictures start to spread online.  While it was an earthquake that stuck, most would compare the destruction to that of a war zone.  The earthquake's epicenter was located around 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, making the most populous city one of the most damaged.

The earthquake, which lasted less than a minute by most seismic registry equipment, is being estimated at having claimed between 50,000 and 100,000 lives.  This number is still just an estimate, but those working to help rescue survivors stuck in the rubble and help the injured, have taken to piling bodies in the street, and that's within 48 hours of the actual quake.  Many of the Haiti earthquake pictures you will find show the piles of injured people lining the streets, and since so many of the hospitals were severely damaged, there are very few places for the severely injured to go to beside on the side of the streets. 

While aid is coming in from many different sources (the United States, the U.K., France, and China, along with the United Nations) have all already given both physical and fiscal support to Haiti, which is the poorest country found in the western hemisphere.

United Nation's peacekeeping forces, the Roman Catholic Church, and even the country's own government that were not excluded from the destruction.  The special envoy from the United Nations, Hedi Annabi, and his deputy, along with the Roman Catholic archbishop, Joseph Serge Miot, were killed in the quake, and many of the government's buildings, including the Presidential Palace, were severely damaged if not destroyed.  Luckily, many of these buildings were vacant since the earthquake struck after office hours.

As rescue efforts continue, additional support is need.  Financial assistance, made through donations to various non-profit and aid groups throughout the country, can greatly help the rescue efforts in Haiti, primarily Port-au-Prince. 

This Haiti earthquake picture shows very common scene in the nation's capitol of Port-au-Prince.  The one minute of violent shaking was able to destroy or severely damage many of the city's buildings.  Due to economic conditions in the nation, many buildings were already in dire need of repair and renovation, although experts do now say that many of the building would have been damaged even if they had been repaired due to the proximity of the epicenter of the earthquake.

Citizen of the country were generally left with nowhere to go following the Haiti earthquake, with many of them moving directly into the streets.  Estimates before the quake put around 80 percent of the country's population at or below the poverty line.  Those that lost everything in this event did truly lose everything. 

Those who did take to the streets and were able soon started the very dangerous search for survivors.  When a number of the buildings in Haiti collapse, like this Haiti earthquake picture shows, many were trapped inside still alive.  For many of those trapped, you could apparently hear they through the rubble, leading many citizens on the nation to start and help pull them to safety.

This is the Presidential Palace of Haiti, and this picture shows the destruction that took place during the Haiti earthquake.  For one of the more expensive building in Port-au-Prince, this proves just how devastating the earthquake was.  The second floor of the presidential palace was forced down to the first floor, and the many domes adorning the top of the structure were sent askew by the damage.

Here's another picture of the damage to the presidential palace.  In this Haiti earthquake picture, you can see the extent of the damage to the Presidential Palace from a different angle.  This level of damage is still not as bad as the damage to many of the other buildings around Port-au-Prince, since this structure is still standing, even if it is just barely doing so.

 

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