Tale of two quakes: Chile was ready, Haiti wasn't

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month - yet the death toll in Haiti is magnitudes higher.

The reasons are simple.

Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. (It experienced the strongest earthquake on record, in 1960.)

No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.

And Chile was relatively lucky this time. Yesterday's quake was centered offshore, about 21 miles underground in a relatively unpopulated area, while Haiti's tectonic mayhem struck closer to the surface - about 8 miles - and right on the edge of Port-au-Prince.

The U.S. Geological Survey says eight Haitian cities and towns - including this capital of 3 million - suffered "violent" to "extreme" shaking in last month's magnitude-7 quake, which Haiti's government estimates killed some 220,000 people and left about 1.2 million homeless.

In Chile, where the death toll was in the hundreds, no urban area suffered more than "severe" shaking - the third most serious level - in its 8.8-magnitude disaster, by USGS measure. The quake was centered 200 miles away from the largest city, Santiago.

The Chilean quake was 900 times stronger in terms of energy released at the epicenter, said Eric Calais, a Purdue University geophysicist studying the Haiti quake. But energy dissipates rather quickly as distances grow from epicenters - and the ground beneath Port-au-Prince is less stable by comparison and "shakes like jelly," says University of Miami geologist Tim Dixon.

Survivors of Haiti's quake described abject panic - much of it well-founded as buildings imploded around them. Haitians were not schooled in how to react - by sheltering under tables and door frames, and away from glass windows.

Chileans, accustomed to seismic activity, have homes and offices built to ride out quakes. "When you look at the architecture in Chile you see buildings that have damage, but not the complete pancaking that you've got in Haiti," said Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit that has helped people in 36 countries rebuild after disasters.

Sinclair said he has architect colleagues in Chile who have built thousands of low-income housing structures to be earthquake resistant.

In Haiti - the Western Hemisphere's poorest country - by contrast, there is no building code. The Jan. 12 quake was the strongest in two centuries there.

In Chile, "The fact that the president [Michelle Bachelet] was out giving minute-to-minute reports a few hours after the quake in the middle of the night gives you an indication of their disaster response," Sinclair said.

Most Haitians didn't know whether their president, René Préval, was alive or dead for at least a day after the quake. The National Palace and his residence, like most government buildings, had collapsed, and Haiti's TV, cell phone networks and radio stations were knocked off the air.