The Haitian Earthquake Brings Out the Good in Human Nature

We have been bombarded with reports and images of the recent Haitian earthquake from every side. We can not open a newspaper, turn on the TV or listen to the radio without hearing or seeing shocking images of this human catastrophe. Yet with these images comes a huge up swell of human generosity in response to the tragedy. It is as if the world is mobilizing to come to Haiti's aid. Why does this happen?


When we see the horrific pictures of crushed buildings, dead bodies, crying children, hopelessness and overall disaster, whether it be 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Malaysian tsunami, or more recently, the Haitian earthquake, a strange occurrence happens. We feel empathy. We care about everything and are concerned for our fellow human beings. We are willing to give to people without expecting anything for ourselves. There seems to be an innate altruistic desire in most of us and we respond to this. Besides, it makes us feel good.

Earthquake: You Have To Know (Effects/Impacts of Earthquakes)

The effects of earthquakes include, but are not limited to, the following:

Shaking and ground rupture

Shaking and ground rupture are the main effects created by earthquakes, principally resulting in more or less severe damage to buildings and other rigid structures. The severity of the local effects depends on the complex combination of the earthquake magnitude, the distance from the epicenter, and the local geological and geomorphological conditions, which may amplify or reduce wave propagation.[24] The ground-shaking is measured by ground acceleration.

Specific local geological, geomorphological, and geostructural features can induce high levels of shaking on the ground surface even from low-intensity earthquakes. This effect is called site or local amplification. It is principally due to the transfer of the seismic motion from hard deep soils to soft superficial soils and to effects of seismic energy focalization owing to typical geometrical setting of the deposits.

Ground rupture is a visible breaking and displacement of the Earth's surface along the trace of the fault, which may be of the order of several metres in the case of major earthquakes. Ground rupture is a major risk for large engineering structures such as dams, bridges and nuclear power stations and requires careful mapping of existing faults to identify any likely to break the ground surface within the life of the structure.