<P> The quake occurred in the vicinity of the northern boundary where the Caribbean tectonic plate shifts eastwards by about 20 mm ( 0.79 in ) per year in relation to the North American plate . The strike - slip fault system in the region has two branches in Haiti , the Septentrional - Oriente fault in the north and the Enriquillo - Plantain Garden fault in the south ; both its location and focal mechanism suggested that the January 2010 quake was caused by a rupture of the Enriquillo - Plantain Garden fault , which had been locked for 250 years , gathering stress . However , a study published in May 2010 suggested that the rupture process may have involved slip on multiple blind thrust faults with only minor , deep , lateral slip along or near the main Enriquillo -- Plantain Garden fault zone , suggesting that the event only partially relieved centuries of accumulated left - lateral strain on a small part of the plate - boundary system . The rupture was roughly 65 km ( 40 mi ) long with mean slip of 1.8 metres ( 5 ft 11 in ) . Preliminary analysis of the slip distribution found amplitudes of up to about 4 m ( 13 ft ) using ground motion records from all over the world . </P>
<P> The quake occurred in the vicinity of the northern boundary where the Caribbean tectonic plate shifts eastwards by about 20 mm ( 0.79 in ) per year in relation to the North American plate . The strike - slip fault system in the region has two branches in Haiti , the Septentrional - Oriente fault in the north and the Enriquillo - Plantain Garden fault in the south ; both its location and focal mechanism suggested that the January 2010 quake was caused by a rupture of the Enriquillo - Plantain Garden fault , which had been locked for 250 years , gathering stress . However , a study published in May 2010 suggested that the rupture process may have involved slip on multiple blind thrust faults with only minor , deep , lateral slip along or near the main Enriquillo -- Plantain Garden fault zone , suggesting that the event only partially relieved centuries of accumulated left - lateral strain on a small part of the plate - boundary system . The rupture was roughly 65 km ( 40 mi ) long with mean slip of 1.8 metres ( 5 ft 11 in ) . Preliminary analysis of the slip distribution found amplitudes of up to about 4 m ( 13 ft ) using ground motion records from all over the world . </P>
the destructive earthquake in haiti in 2010 was the result of
the destructive earthquake in haiti in 2010 was the result of
a rupture of the Enriquillo - Plantain Garden fault
a rupture of the Enriquillo - Plantain Garden fault