"It Was a Mistake" | Sympathy for the Devils | You Get What You
Pay For | As the World Warms | Woe is Us | Up to Speed Woe Is
Us: Ready, set, panic. If a tree falls in a forest and no one
hears it, does it cause an earthquake? After studying the 2010
earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 200,000 people,
University of Miami earth scientist Shimon Wdowinski concluded
that the temblor may be linked to severe deforestation, which
has removed 98 percent of the tree cover in Haiti's mountains.
With no roots to hold them together, the bare hillsides eroded
much faster than forested ones would have. Then, in 2008, Haiti
was hit by two hurricanes and two tropical storms. Flooding
further hastened erosion, transferring masses of sediment from
the mountain slopes to the mouth of the Leogane Delta—just north
of the earthquake's epicenter. That shift in weight, Wdowinski
believes, was enough to rupture the previously unknown fault.
"Earthquakes have friction forces they have to overcome for the
earth to move," he expl