Next for Haiti: a Hurricane (and Maybe a Huge Quake)

Tropical Storm Tomas bears down on cholera- and quake-plagued nation
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 1, 2010 12:20 PM CDT
Next for Haiti: a Hurricane (and Maybe a Huge Quake)
A child helps a blind man walk through the street where an abandoned aircraft sits at a camp set up for Jan. 12 earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday Oct. 26, 2010.   (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Haitian officials and aid workers are scrambling to prepare the devastated country for yet another natural disaster. Tropical Storm Tomas is expected to hit Haiti by the end of the week—and to be a hurricane again by the time it does, Reuters reports. “This storm is approaching at a time when aid agencies are already stretched to their limit,” thanks to the ongoing quake recovery and a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 330 people, one UN official said.

As if that weren’t bad enough, scientists believe the country could be in for yet another huge earthquake in the near future. New research published this month indicates that January’s quake “only unloaded a fraction of the seismic energy that has built up” in Haiti, which means more quakes are “inevitable.” The findings are “pretty bizarre,” one geologist tells the Guardian, and they imply that "another strong quake could happen at any time.” (More Haiti stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X