Did Mining and Oil Drilling Trigger the Haiti Earthquake?

Source: EZILI DANTO/MARQUERITE LAURENT OpenSalon

“The UN, the US & the Canadians are not in Haiti for Humanitarian Goals or Because They Care about Haitian Rights…There is an Economic Track” Marguerite Laurent

Did the mining of Haiti’s riches since 2004 GW Bush regime change cause the earthquake?

Listen to Marguerite Laurent, known as Ezili Dantò, on mining Haiti’s riches and concern for environmental degradation by the foreign companies.

“The idea that human activity can cause seismic activity is widely accepted in the scientific community …the connection between oil production and earthquakes dates back to at least the 1920s, when geologists in South Texas noted faulting near the Goose Creek oil field…A 1967 human-triggered earthquake in western India linked to the Koyna Dam registered a 7.0 earthquake.”

Since the earthquake, I’ve had occasion to ponder, like many others, about what may have caused this heretofore-unknown natural disaster in Haiti? Was it a natural occurrence or man-made? Haiti has not had an earthquake in 270 years. Why now? The nation of Haiti is only 206 years old, so Haitians have no experience with earthquakes whatsoever. They did not know that for an earthquake you run away from the house. So, when the trembling started they did the worst possible thing—ran into their houses as they are used to, for protection, with hurricanes. The houses all collapsed on them.



How could this devastation happen? 200,000 dead in the capital alone, devastation in the South also, in Leogane, Les Cayes, Jacmel. In Port Au Prince everything collapse, 400,000 to be relocated, millions homeless, untold numbers with amputated limbs, hundreds of thousands right now dying without access to water, food, shelter and medical treatment.



Since the 2004 Bush Regime change Ezili’s Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN) has been concerned about the digging up of Haiti without any regards to environmental degradation.

In an April 29, 2009 interview with Chris Scott of CKUT (90.3 FM) in Montreal, entitled Haiti’s Riches: Interview with Ezili Dantò on Mining in Haiti, I expressed concern that under the UN occupation which made the Haitian goverment a puppet government, Haitian lives and welfare were not priorities. The priorities were corporate exploitation of Haiti’s resources and cheap labor. Haiti’s emergency civil preparedness agency was destroyed during the Bush regime change and never rebuilt. (See, Earthquake in Haiti: Under Aristide, Haitians were prepared for disaster.)

We’ve had severe hurricanes in 2004, 2005 and then the four back-to-back hurricanes of 2008. The people’s living conditions has not improved in the 6-years the U.S., France and Canada have controlled Haiti through the U.N. proxy occupation. In fact, with clorox hunger, food riots, no money to send children to school, high food and fuel prices, no development in the 6-years the UN/US has been directly controlling Haiti, things, had gotten much worse since the coup against President Aristide. The people were simply slowly dying as UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton waxed on about the “good business climate” in Haiti prior to the earthquake. They died and there was no rebuilding of the institutions the Bush coup d’etat had helped destroy. But there were 9,000 UN troops in Haiti doing what?

In the Mining Haiti’s Riches interview, I recount how there were areas in Haiti hidden behind UN guns, fenced off where Haitians knew nothing about what these soldiers were doing.



Then the earthquake hit. What remains is unimaginable. The rescue and recovery process was inhumane. The relief from pain and hunger is still not in place. And, as I think about the process of rebuilding, I started checking whether digging for gold, iridium, copper, uranium, diamonds and oil could trigger an earthquake. And the answer I found sent chills up my spine. Made me sick to my stomach. Can this really be?

From what I’ve read, drilling deep into the earth digging and mining may trigger earthquakes. And, drilling either for fossil fuels or renewable energy exploration may cause earthquakes. Both geophysicists and oilmen agree that natural-gas drilling trigger earthquakes. One oilman stated that “there is not the slightest doubt” that gas production caused the temblors.” (See, At Fault: Does Drilling Cause Earthquakes?).

According to a New York Times report drilling for oil sets off earthquakes. A drilling project near San Francisco and a similar project in Basel, Switzerland were shut down over concerns they trigger damaging earthquakes. Both diggings involved fracturing hard rock more than two miles deep.

…large earthquakes tend to originate at great depths, breaking rock that far down carries more serious risk, seismologists say. Seismologists have long known that human activities can trigger quakes, but they say the science is not developed enough to say for certain what will or will not set off a major temblor. (Geothermal energy and Quake Threat Leads Swiss to Close Geothermal Project.)

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Haitians are under occupation by the UN/US. The Preval government answers to the Washington not the people of Haiti. The mining in Haiti and the digging up of Haiti goes on without any oversight. (See, Recommended HLLN Links (Energy and Mining in Haiti): The wealthy, powerful and well-armed are robbing the Haitian people blind and, Oil in Haiti – Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation.)

I know some folks are saying there are sophisticated equipment ( HAARP and Tesla) that are used to deliberately set off weather anomalies such as earthquakes, but I’m wondering whether the drilling, possibly for oil in Haiti behind the UN guns at La Gonave or around the seashore of Port-au-Prince exacerbated the fault line in Haiti, causing the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake as in unattended consequence? (At Fault: Does Drilling Cause Earthquakes?.)

And if, as the oilman said, there’s not the “slightest doubt natural-gas drilling causes earthquakes” and there was drilling in addition to the mining of gold, copper, uranium and iridium, stealthy going on behind the UN guns, then the question becomes, which of the coup detat countries – US, France, Canada, used the UN proxy occupation to drill for oil and dig for gold, iridium, marble, granite, et al, helped caused the earthquake?”

Was that the reason for the US delay in getting to the survivors?

Was there more pressing concerns of cover-up to attend to before the modern world and the all-seeing cameras headed to haiti, got to Haiti? What were the thousands upon thousands of UN soldiers, from the 9,000 in Haiti, posted outside of Port-au-Prince doing that they did not appear on the scene to help with the rescue? Where were they?

These soldiers get paid and tell all and sundry they are in Haiti to “help” Haitians and have been paid billions of dollars in five years, over $600 million per year for the “help.” Where was this help?



We seem to always be “helped” to death while the private sector uses the military to secure profit. Isn’t everyone thinking about this? We are watching earthquake survivors die, as the US tell the world that its priority after the earthquake is “security.” Whose security? (See, Oil in Haiti – Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation; and Haiti is full of oil say Daniel & Ginette Mathurin: Haiti has larger oil reserves than Venezuela says scientists.)



A map showing the mining resources in Haiti shows five oil/gas sites in Haiti. Notice how most of the Haiti oil is located at and around the waters, land, and on the island and shores of the Gulf of La Gonave, Port au Prince where perhaps there was drilling before earthquake?



Recently the President of France asked Haiti for a long-term lease to the Island of La Gonave. It was at a secret meeting in Ottawa, in 2003, where foreign officials from the OAS, France, Canada and the United States initiated the planning for military ouster of democratically elected Haiti President, Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Since the regime change, the UN has been warehousing young Haitian men and moving them, through criminalization and indefinite detention in prison for years, out of the area in Site Soley where access to oil deposit are noted on the map below. ( Map of mining resources in Haiti and showing five oil/gas sites in Haiti.)

The idea that human activity can cause seismic activity is widely accepted in the scientific community …the connection between oil production and earthquakes dates back to at least the 1920s, when geologists in South Texas noted faulting near the Goose Creek oil field…A 1967 human-triggered earthquake in western India linked to the Koyna Dam registered a 7.0 earthquake.

It seems clear, since the earthquake, that Haitian life is not as valuable as securing the corporatocracy, foreign life and interest in Haiti’s soil and mineral resources. A pharmaceutical company was excavating a microbe discovered in Haitian soil that would be used to develop super-antibiotic drug. Up in the North the Canadians were digging gold, granite, chalk.

No one knows how many Haitian earthquake victims could have lived or been rescued from under the rubble if emergency first responders – airplane loads of them, filled with doctors, field hospitals, water, food, medical supplies, were not turned back and prevented by the US from landing” We know people died unnecessarily and are still dying.



It seems that what the US is doing is securing the land for itself, preferably without the presence of black Haitians.

The land is more valuable than the human beings suffering and dying so horribly. Haiti, with 27,560 sq km of land mass, is 3rd largest nation in the Caribbean. Haiti is a big country for the Caribbean. In a power-point presentation to attract “smart, optimistic business partners and investors” of one of the mining companies, currently digging quaries in Haiti, wrote:

Haitian quarries can…
Dominate this industry in northern Caribbean
Provide a springboard to Cuba when timing is right
Most promising quarry areas in Cuba…
…are on SE coast, adjacent to NW Haiti

Haiti is built of…
High-grade limestone, still rising from the Caribbean seafloor
Plus other important rock types
‘old African’ crustal rock, like Colorado Rockies
later volcanic rocks, basalts and granites
in great demand for US and Caribbean engineering projects

“Remarkably Pure”
Famous American geologist Wendell Woodring, USGS
surveyed Haiti in 1923-24 on foot and with donkeys
wrote most authoritative study to date on geology of Haiti
described certain Haitian limestone as “remarkably pure.”
Sent lignite samples to US for testing

Limestone?
Basic industrial commodity
Construction aggregates
Cement production
Industrial and agricultural minerals
Virtually inelastic demand, even during recessions
Demand is function of population: ~9 tons/person/year in USA (according to USGS)
Steady increase due to new industrial, agricultural, medical uses
China growth – affecting all commodities markets; commodities prices rising
Important for infrastructure development in Haiti and elsewhere in Caribbean

Haiti has formidable advantages:
Proximity to dynamic markets
Hard-working, tenacious people anxious for jobs
Special US legal and tax considerations under CBERA/CBI, new HERO act

Haiti: 38% more coastline than Dominican Republic
Haiti has 1,771 km of coastline vs. DR’s 1,288 *Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, DR, Cayman Islands, Lesser Antilles
Cuba in a few more years?
Most comparable US location: Chicago

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False Stereotype 1: ‘tiny island nation’
Reality: Haiti, with 27,560 sq km of land mass, is 3rd largest nation in the Caribbean

Haiti: Big Country for the Caribbean
La Selle massif rises 2700 meters above sea level Port-au-Prince
(almost 9000 feet)
Compares to 14,300 ft Mt. Evans above ‘mile-high’ Denver
(~ 9000 ft)

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False Stereotype 2: ‘Haiti is so overcrowded’
Reality: Low population density compared to her crowded neighbors
Large rural areas are virtually unpopulated – ‘Haitian Outback’
Haiti’s 2nd most important resource: Location
Neither barren nor lifeless as hysterical news stories claim!

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False Stereotype 3: ‘Haiti has no resources’

Truth: Important natural resources are largely undeveloped:
Facts: Haiti has better long-term prospects than much of the West Indies…
where over-dependence on tourism limits opportunity
Strong opportunities for diversified natural resource development…
…and modern, environmentally sound, industrialization
Local value-add, e.g. precast & prestress concrete
Agro-chemicals and industrial minerals manufacture. (See, Matraco-Colorado Haiti Venture -A Power-Point Presentation.)

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In fact, before the earthquake, the former president of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (REFIDOMSA), Leopoldo Espaillat Nanita, even said, “there is a multinational conspiracy to illegally take the mineral resources of the Haitian people. A pharmaceutical company was excavating a microbe discovered in Haitian soil that would be used to develop super-antibiotic drug.

Since the earthquake Haiti children are disappearing, more so than before in UN occupied Haiti where they routinely got raped and/or molested by either charity workers or UN soldiers. For, child traffickers activated immediately to take advantage of the earthquake chaos. There’s a report that fifteen children simply disappeared from a hospital. There’s no prioritizing security for fragile and wounded Haitian children.



But the US military is busy landing at the airport, deploying its power to the hotels, and places where the wealthier live. The UN troops are busy going to banks to secure the bags of money underneath the rubble. (See Soledad Obrien’s CNN report below near the 2 min 35 sec mark.)



We know the digging of Haiti’s mountains that is going on in the North of Haiti, if not the drilling for oil we suspect that is also happening, may have triggered this massive holocaust in Haiti. But the US has no remorse. France and Canada have no accountability for orchestrating the regime change that disenfranchised Haiti’s people in order to plunder Haiti. No.

Rumor has it, as the capital area is being depopulated, as the people suffer and die, France, US and Canada are haggling over divvying up “zones of protection” so they can help Haitians some more.

Canada wants the North of Haiti. The US wants Port-au-Prince and the Island of La Gonave and is willing to give France something, how about Jacmel in the South? It’s artistic! France ain’t hearing it. France wants the oil rich Island of La Gonave. The tussle even made it on the public stage because since France isn’t getting the part of Haiti it wants, it accused the US of occupying Haiti.

Something must have been resolved because France soon retracted. China, the sleeping giant with UN veto power, is a problem for all of them, because it wants to know, what is its share? Meanwhile Haitians continue to be helped to suffer and die to accommodate.



Further Reading:

Recommended HLLN Links (Energy and Mining in Haiti): The wealthy, powerful and well-armed are robbing the Haitian people blind

Haiti Riches: Listen to CKUT Interview (in English – 34:03) with Ezili Dantò on Mining of Haiti Resources and Riches by Chris Scott for CKUT (90.3 FM) in Montreal, April 29, 2009

Haiti Riches: Lakounewyork (Kreyòl) Interview with Ezili Dantò on environmental degradation concerns of gold/copper mining in Haiti, May 6, 2009

Haiti’s Oligarchy

- A map of some of Haiti’s mining resources

- Gilbert Bigio’s new oil/gas contract with Chevron for Haiti – Chevron to Sell Fuels Marketing Businesses in Haiti, 02 Jun 2, 2009

- Digicel Haiti Celebrates Third Anniversary With 2.1 Million Customers, May 5, 2009-Gold and copper exploration in Haiti, April 29, 2009

- Majescor to Acquire Interest in a Strategic Gold-Copper Property in Haiti, April 23, 2009

-Canadian company to explore for gold in Haiti

- Eurasian Minerals Discovers Two New High-Grade Copper-Silver-Gold Prospects at Treuil Property, Haiti, April 22, 2009

- Eurasian Minerals Inc. Acquires Grand Bois Gold Deposit Property, Haiti, Jan. 26, 2009

- Eurasian Minerals Inc. Acquires 27 Exploration Licenses in Haiti and the Historic Meme Copper-Gold Mine, Dec 17, 2008

- Haiti is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin, [French Original], Radio Metropole, Jan 28, 2008

Expose the lies about Haiti, its people, culture, Vodun spirituality and unique resources

1. Stealing Haiti’s Gold, Copper and Uranium under cover of regime change – The Exploitation of Gold and Copper in Trou Du Nord

-Gold and Copper Exploitation Resumes in the North and Northeast Departments of Haiti

- Eurasian Minerals Acquires Two Gold Projects in Haiti

- Haiti ’s Future Glitters with Gold

2. Plundering Haiti’s Under Water Treasures

http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/waterplunder.htmlPreval Government in Haiti denounces Heritage Looting

Authorities in Florida are opening an investigation into the origins of emeralds stolen from an interim Haitian dignitary’s home

Robbing Haiti blind: pillage and plunder – Iles-à-Vaches: Bronze Cannons, gold and emerald pieces stolen

Microbe discovered in Haitian soil may develop super-antibiotic drug