Acehtsunami

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - 100s of houses that survived Haiti’s quake still stand empty even as quake victims worried for shelter crowd the streets. The cause is fear: No one is quite sure they can survive another quake. At least 54 aftershocks have shuddered during Haiti’s shattered capital while the Jan 12 quake take more than 200,000 people life.

Seismologists say that more negative aftershocks are likely and that there is even a chance of one larger quake in the capital of 3 million people. A magnitude-7.4 quake that takes more than 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey in 1999 was followed 3 months afterward by a magnitude-7.2 quake just 60 miles from the first epicenter.

“There are so many examples like that of 2 important earthquakes following each other,” said Eric Calais, a geophysicist at Purdue University. Still Haitian President Rene Preval is afraid to sleep inside. He said he was staying with friends until he can move to an earthquake-resistant arrangement. ‘Like you, I am nervous,’ Preval said.

The past, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his state would spend up to $12 million to build Haiti’s govt a short-term base to restore official buildings damaged in the quake. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that there is a 90 % possibility of at least 1 more magnitude-5 quake in the upcoming month, a 15 % possibility of one of magnitude-6 or greater, as well as a 2 % possibility of a shock as huge, or larger, than the Jan. 12 quake.