EARTHQUAKE

I'VE BEEN POSTING ON FACEBOOK FOR HOURS IT SEEMS. WE DID HAVE SCHOOL TODAY BUT ARE CANCELING TOMORROW AND FRIDAY AS SO MANY STUDENTS WERE NOT THERE TODAY. WE PLAN TO GO TO PORT AU PRINCE TOMORROW. PERHAPS THERE IS SOMETHING WE CAN DO AND WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THE GUEST HOUSE WHERE WE ARE TO PICK NANCY UP IS STILL THERE. WE FINALLY MADE CONTACT WITH NANCY LATE TODAY. ALL PHONE LINES HAVE BEEN DOWN, AND WE'VE TRIED MULTIPLE TIMES TO GET HER, IT WAS A MIRACLE THAT WE CONNECTED. SHE IS FINE, TEAM IS FINE. IN CASE YOU DON'T KNOW, SHE WENT WITH A DENTAL TEAM SOUTH OF PORT AND UP A MOUNTAIN FOR SEVERAL DAYS TO TRANSLATE FOR THEM. WE WERE TO PICK HER UP ON FRIDAY BUT SINCE THIS ALL HAPPENED WE FELT IT WAS BEST TO GO TO PORT TOMORROW.

HERE'S WHAT WE EXPERIENCED: NEAR FIVE PM YESTERDAY, GARY WAS STANDING AT THE WATER JUG GETTING WATER. I HAD JUST GOTTEN A CAN OPENER OUT OF THE DRAWER TO OPEN A CAN OF BUTTER BEANS. DAN WAS IN HIS ROOM. ALL OF A SUDDEN WE HEARD THIS LOUD SOUND LIKE A BIG TRUCK GOING BY AND THE FLOOR WAS SHAKING (SIMULTANEOUSLY). GARY SAID, "WHAT'S THAT?" AT THE LOUD NOISE THEN LOOKED DOWN AND AT THAT INSTANT DAN SAID "WE ARE HAVING AN EARTHQUAKE!" THE ERASER FELL FROM THE TOP OF THE GREASE BOARD HANGING ON THE WALL. THAT WAS THE ONLY THING THAT FELL. GARY GRABBED MY HAND AND SAID, "LET'S GET OUTSIDE!" AT THAT POINT IT WAS REALLY WEIRD BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T NAVIGATE REAL WELL, SORT OF WEAVING BACK AND FORTH LIKE WALKING DOWN TH E ISLE OF AN AIRPLANE OR BEING IN THE BATHROOM OF A PLANE. I HAD THE SENSATION OF WANTING TO HOLD ON TO SOMETHING AND FELT LIGHT HEADED. I DIDN'T HAVE SHOES ON AND THERE I STOOD, IN THE DIRTY STREET BAREFOOTED (WHICH I THOUGHT I'D NEVER DO). OTHERS WERE OUT IN THE STREET TALKING ABOUT IT, SOME SORT OF LAUGHING. TWO BEGGARS DIDN'T MISS A BEAT, THEY APPROACHED US FOR MONEY. GARY ASKED THEM IF THEY WERE AWARE OF THE GROUND SHAKING, THEY SEEMED NOT TO RESPOND TO HIM BUT ONLY THEIR PROGRAM, "BAM WE UN DOHLA." WE CAME BACK IN THE HOUSE WHEN IT WAS OVER, THEN AFTER SHOCKS BEGAN AND CONTINUED ON AND OFF ALL NIGHT.

TODAY WE BEGAN TO SEE THE REPORTS ON LINE. PORT AU PRINCE IS NEARLY GONE AS ARE ALL THEIR STRUCTURES AND THE DEATH RATE IS PHENOMENAL. KEVIN SAID TODAY, "THERE IS A POWER THAT IS GREATER THAN ANY POWER AND PEOPLE MUST TURN TO HIM." HE WAS VISIBLY SHAKEN AND AFRAID.

WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS. TAKE A MOMENT AND READ SOME OF THE FACTS THAT I POSTED ABOUT EARTHQUAKE. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS !!!!

"In general, earthquakes have different characteristics whether they are in the ocean or on land and depending on the geologic setting they are in," Bedwell told LiveScience. "A mountainous and rocky setting is more characteristic of not as much ground shaking, opposed to abundant sediments and not as rocky where there's a potential for higher ground shaking. Haiti would be a more sediment type, more severe ground shaking geologic setting."

Depth is also important, as the source of the Haiti quake was 6.2 miles (10 km) below the Earth's surface.

"The depth of this earthquake in Haiti was very shallow, meaning that the energy that was released is very close to the surface, which can also be another characteristic that causes some violent ground shaking," Bedwell said. "An earthquake that's very deep - that energy has a chance to go through the Earth's crust before reaching the Earth's surface and possibly not causing as much shaking of the ground."

Unofficial USGS reports suggest the shaking lasted anywhere from 35 seconds to up to a minute, Bedwell said. "That's a pretty long amount of time for the ground to be shaking."

All of these effects get magnified when the infrastructure is shoddy and not built to withstand shaking. "Unfortunately, Haiti has a rather poor economy and not a wonderful building style for earthquake resistance, so we would expect that we would see quite severe and widespread damage from this earthquake," Michael Blanpeid, associate coordinator for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, said in a podcast released today.

A potentially similar effect was seen when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck China's Sichuan province, taking tens of thousands of lives. Earthquake engineers speculated the adobe and masonry buildings and homes, many of which were probably not reinforced with steel as building codes dictate, added to the earthquake damage, especially in more rural areas.

What is the potential for future aftershocks in Haiti?

The threat is not over. "So far we have monitored over 40 aftershocks ranging from 4.5 all the way up to 5.9," Bedwell said. About 14 of those aftershocks were magnitude 5.0 or larger.

And they expect more in the coming weeks, she said. There is no way to predict whether one aftershock will be stronger than the next, as they will come in no particular order, according to Bedwell, but typically range between 4.0 and 5.5 magnitude.