With more quakes ahead, Haiti debating whether to move its capital

Prépetit, a tall man with a wrinkled face who is wearing sneakers, now says, quite calmly, that the earth beneath Port-au-Prince will shake again, but first it will happen farther to the north. The next quake, according to Prépetit’s calculations, will be even stronger, probably measuring about 7.6 on the Richter scale. He predicts that it could happen in 20 years’ time, give or take a few years.

Prépetit has divided Haiti into risk zones, based on information his staff has compiled and applied to a map of the country. Seismologists looking at the map can immediately recognize that the most dangerous place in the country is the capital. “We have to make this clear to people, and they have to understand it,” says the scientist. “A lot of people have to get out of here.”