Haiti, January 24: Experts predict Haiti will be hit again with another huge quake, despite two in recent weeks.
Seismologists say aftershocks have already rattled the impoverished Caribbean nation in the days following the January 12 quake that killed over 110,000 people, left nearly 610,000 homeless and injured scores more.
On Thursday, a magnitude 5.9 quake struck people already scrambling to rebuild their tattered lives.
But more are likely on their way. The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated there’s a 25 per cent probability that one or several magnitude six aftershocks could strike in the coming weeks, although they will space out more and more over time.
If the devastating magnitude seven quake that hit nearly two weeks ago freed much of the tension accumulated on one portion of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault zone, another segment east of the epicentre and adjacent to Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince has barely moved, according to the USGS.
Yet part of this fault zone accumulated more strain due to the sliding of North American and Caribbean tectonic plates that could unleash all that strength at any moment without warning.
The geological agency based its predictions on preliminary measures of deformations using radar, satellite and aerial imagery.
—Agencies