IntroductionThere are approximately 15 tectonic or lithospheric plates on the Earth's surface, which are different sizes and move relative to each other on the Earth's surface. As a result, the crust around plate boundaries bends or deforms, accumulating strong energy during these processes (Briggs, 2006). When in the future the tension becomes too great for the crust to bear, the crust will crack or slide, causing earthquakes. As a type of geophysical hazard, earthquakes are inevitable for humanity living on Earth, as they destroy huge buildings and take away human life. However, the effects of earthquakes can be reduced if people take appropriate actions. This report provides an overview of two earthquakes that occurred in Haiti and Chile in 2010 and compares and contrasts these two earthquakes to see how the consequences of earthquakes can be reduced. Introduction to the Chile EarthquakeThe Chilean earthquake of February 27, 2010 occurred at 03:00:34:17 local time (UTC-3), with a magnitude of 8.5 Mw (United Nations, 2010). This earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, which converge at a rate of 70 mm per year. The earthquake occurred as a thrust fault at the interface between the two plates, with the Nazca plate moving downward and earthward beneath the South American plate (United Nations, 2010). The epicenter was located on the coast approximately 8 km west of the city of Curanipe and 115 km north-northeast of Chile's second largest city, Concepción (United Nations, 2010). Introduction to the Haiti EarthquakeThe Haiti earthquake on January 12, 2010 occurred at 4:53 pm local time (9:53 pm UTC), with a magnitude of 7.0 Mw, and the epicenter is near the city of Leogane, approximately middle of paper ......d within the rupture zone of the 1835 event experienced by Charles Darwin. However, peak fault slip was located north of the epicenter, not where it was expected to occur. Nature, 469(7337), 174.Ros, A. (2010). Why Chile fared better than Haiti. Nature 464(7285), 15.Sarkar, S., Choudhary, S., Sonakia, A., Vishwakarama, A,. & Gwal, A. K. (2012). Ionospheric anomalies associated with the Haiti earthquake of 12 January 2010 observed by the DEMETER satellite. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 12, 671-678. doi:10.5194/nhess-12-671-2012United Nations. (2010). The Chile earthquake of 27 February 2010: an overview. Santiago: United Nations Publishing.Watts, A. Possible earthquake early warning signal discovered, Retrieved October 3, 2011, from http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/03/possible-earthquake-early-warning-signal -discovered