Saving lives after the quake

Queens continues to help Haiti.
On October 27, Queens College hosted an interactive discussion as part of its Presidential Roundtable to find ways to prevent further devastation in Haiti. After the massive earthquake on January 12, Dr. Cecilia McHugh, professor of earth and environmental sciences, along with some of her colleagues, traveled to Haiti to conduct geological research that may potentially save hundreds of lives and prevent further earthquakes.
McHugh and her fellow marine geologists traveled to Haiti as part of the National Science Foundation RAPID response, where they mapped the underwater plate boundary fault just west of the epicentral region. They took acoustic images of the seafloor and subsurface, sampled sediments and took water column measurements. Among the findings of their research were uplifted coral reefs, sediment failures, surface deformations and lateral spreading of the land. Even two months after the earthquake, the water was still abnormally thick and dense.
By studying the sedimentation as an aftermath of the earthquake, scientists will have more information to better predict how at risk the region is for more seismic activity.