NASA-International Space Station

The fault responsible for the Jan. 12 magnitude 7.0 earthquakes that distraught Haiti is visible in images created using NASA radar topography data acquired in 2000.

This perspective analysis of the pre-earthquake topography of the area, created using data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission that flew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in February 2000, clearly shows the Enriquillo fault that is in fact responsible for the earthquake. The fault is visible as a important linear landform that forms a sharp diagonal line at the center of the image. The city of Port-au-Prince is straight away to the left (north) at the mountain front and shoreline.

Elevations in the picture are color coded from dark green at low elevations to white at high elevations, and the topography is shaded with illumination from the left. The topography in this image is overstated by a factor of two.