Geoscientists Without Borders^®

Leogane, Haiti: "The Haiti subsurface imaging project: Helping build Haiti's geoscience capability and searching for the 2010 earthquake fault."

Partners: Southern Methodist University, University of Calgary, State University of Haiti, Bureau des Mines et de L'Energie d'Haiti and the University of Houston

Summary: Haiti's human and technical needs are enormous, and field geophysics is an ideal way to introduce students to advanced technology while striving to mitigate real problems. Haiti's subsurface structure and associated hazards are not well understood. With Haitian colleagues, an international team of geoscientists, and groups of students, the project will undertake the geophysical surveys with the goal of finding and understanding the blind faults that are thought to have given rise to the 2010 event. Project members will use a number of geophysical techniques to image the earthquake's epicentral area (Leogane-Petit Gouve), and seek support to acquire geophysical equipment that will be used to train. The equipment, in turn, will be donated to the Haitian geoscience colleagues, allowing the work to go on long after the GWB project is complete. Geophysically characterizing the near-surface sediment properties and searching for the proposed blind Leogane fault will assist in developing Haitian technical skills, the tectonic understanding of Hispaniola, and hazard mitigation.

"The 2010 Haiti earthquake caused enormous human and infrastructural loss. Along with many, we were deeply moved by the devastation in Haiti and highly motivated to help somehow. Exploration geophysics and GWB provided the pathway," said project manager Rob Stewart. "We have begun to assist in Haiti on the individual as well as technical fronts—by helping to build Haiti's geophysical surveying, analysis, and educational capabilities as well as trying to image the ‘blind fault' itself that gave rise to the 2010 earthquake. We have established the beginnings of a solid working relationship with Haitian geoscience and logistics personnel. Our reconnoiter seismic and gravity surveys in January 2012 acquired good data and gave us (Haitian geoscientists with University of Houston faculty and graduate students) operational experience in the Leogane area of the fault. There are excellent opportunities for helping build technical capacity in Haiti, further assisting in the development of local personnel, and providing an intensely useful experience for an international group of students. We are excited about contributing to the understanding of this major tectonic area and building geophysics in Haiti. Exploration geophysics has mainly developed to discover and recover resources and thus, increase prosperity... noble pursuits. However, with much of the world heavily populated and reliant on sophisticated infrastructure, that prosperity can be severely compromised by natural forces. Many of our exploration techniques and organizations can be brought to bear on these hazard-related and broad scientific problems. Our geophysical methods will ultimately provide enormous social benefits, similar their economic ones. GWB focuses us on that future."

Point of Contact: Rob Stewart - University of Houston