Doesn't seem like a coincidence - to me at least.

[Leo]

I'm suspicious the asteroid that passed close near the earth Tuesday triggered the quake in Haiti. The moon by itself influences tide and weather. A big enough asteroid passing close enough surely would have some effect. I wonder if anyone else thinks that's possible?

[LifeNRA]

Sure! Something that is traveling at 18,500 MPH or faster has got to be influential on our tiny little planet.

[Diamond Archer 01]

I think it is possible.

[Turkeygirl]

I had no idea about this asteroid...???

[layin on the smackdown]

I had no idea about this asteroid...???

Me neither...hmmmm...wow, that sucker came within 80,000 miles of earth and i had no idea.

I am willing to say that there is a possibility of the asteroid having something to do with the earthquake, but at the same time, i would also tend to think that if it was a factor in one earthquake, then there would have been several quakes. Just an idea. Interesting thought.

[Doe-ee]

I thought the quake last week off northern California spurned the Haiti quake, since that fault makes a loop through Haiti and then goes west and then north, right up the north American coast..... but who really knows?

[Leo]

I thought the quake last week off northern California spurned the Haiti quake, since that fault makes a loop through Haiti and then goes west and then north, right up the north American coast..... but who really knows?

Yes, who really knows? That's really what I am trying to make folks think about. Maybe we should be trying harder to figure out how to predict and prepare for such events. We can't afford to dismiss any possible cause just because it doesn't initially make sense to us. How many Haitians could have been saved if we saw this coming? I live on the coast and getting out of the way of hurricanes is a very real part of my life. I've got an advantage in knowing ahead of time to get out of the way of the inevitable. I don't know of an equivalent for quake prediction. What are our science dollars being spent on nowadays? Perhaps we need to re-focus some of that money on quake prediction. It's tragic, extremely tragic.

[ruttinbuc]

You just never know is right. Earthquakes are always unpredicatable. They know what happens and the facts are always after the event. As for science to predict I imagine they have been trying to figure that out for a long time. Hopefully, technology will be found to do so.

[Shaun_300]

Yep, no one really knows for sure. Could have been anything!

[wtnhunt]

Don't know Leo, but sure seems possible.

[Tominator]

That asteroid was only 30' by 50'. Heard on the news that it wouldn't have even hurt earth that much had it hit. Also heard a report that said it may have been man made "space junk," they weren't really sure what it was.

[doubledrop]

anything is possible

[stevebeilgard]

right or wrong, leo, you have a real solid theory.

me, i'd just smother that old asteroid with preperation h....

(right out of the chevy chase vacation movie... lol)

[Strut10]

Not a chance.

Quakes are caused by the tectonic movements of HUGE plates of earth's crust material. There's no way an asteroid is going to influence the movement.

Haiti and the D.R. sit almost smack on top of the plate boundry between the N. American plate and the Caribbean plate. The movement vectors between the two plates are at nearly a 90 degree angle to one another. Meanwhile, the Cocos plate is pushing directly from the west 180 degrees in oppsition to the movement Caribbean plate. Imagine 3 people ticking their fists into a bowl of Jell-o from 3 different directions. The Jell-O's going to move somewhere. That's what happened in Haiti this week. The Jello-O couldn't take anymore shoving and it moved.