Which fault zone was responsible for the 2010 Haiti earthquake?

The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone was responsible for the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck on January 12, 2010, near Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, after centuries of tectonic stress had accumulated along the Caribbean–North American plate boundary.

The fault zone is a major left-lateral strike-slip system running along southern Hispaniola, across Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and extending toward Jamaica. In Haiti, it had been relatively quiet for roughly 250 years, allowing strain to build. The rupture occurred on blind thrust faults associated with the zone, meaning much of the movement happened underground without a clear break at the surface.

The earthquake was especially destructive because it was shallow and close to densely populated Port-au-Prince. Strong shaking damaged or destroyed the Presidential Palace, hospitals, schools, roads and other critical infrastructure. A common mix-up is to identify the Septentrional-Oriente fault, another major fault in the region; it lies farther north and was not the principal source identified for the 2010 event.