The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti was a catastrophic, magnitude 7.0 quake that occurred at a depth of 8 miles (13 km) below the surface. About 3 million people were affected by the quake, with close to 200,000 people killed directly and more than 250,000 severely injured. The capital of Port-
au-Prince and surrounding cities were entirely destroyed primarily due to inadequate building codes, making rescue attempts extremely difficult. The
quake occurred in the vicinity of the northern boundary of thb Caribbean tectonic plate, where it shifts eastward by about 0.79 inches (20 mm) per
year in relation to the North American plate.