1. PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS IN THE CARIBBEAN BASIN 1963 TO THE PRESENT Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA

2. HURRICANE FLORA: 1963 More than 8,000 people were killed as the fifth-deadliest tropical hurricane ever in the Atlantic devastated Haiti and Cuba.

3. HURRICANE FLORA: SEPT 26 - OCT 12, 1963

4. HURRICANE GORDON: 1994 Nearly 1,000 Haitians were buried in mudslides caused by heavy rainfall in areas having wide- spread deforestation

5. HURRICANE GEORGES: 1998 400 victims 80 percent of the crops were destroyed.

6. HURRICANE JEANNE: 2004 Floods caused by more than (40 cm) 13 inches of rain kill more than 3,000 people, mainly in Gonaives.

7. FAY, HANNA, GUSTAV, IKE: 2008 793 people died, 310 were missing and 593 were injured in successive strikes. Nearly 23,000 homes were destroyed. The storms affected 800,000 Haitians and wiped out 70 percent of the country's crops. Damage was estimated at $1 billion, 5 percent of Haiti's GDP.

8. EARTHQUAKE NEAR JAMAICA: JUNE 7, 1692 Magnitude uncertain 2,000 deaths

9. EARTHQUAKE NEAR PUERTO RICO: MAY 2, 1787 Magnitude 8

10. EARTHQUAKE NEAR LEEWARD ISLANDS: FEB 8, 1843 Magnitude 8.3 5,000 deaths

11. EARTHQUAKE NEAR KINGSTON, JAIMACA: JAN 14, 1907 Magnitude 6.5 1,000 deaths

12. EARTHQUAKE NEAR SAMAN, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: AUG 4, 1907 Magnitude 8 100 deaths

13. EARTHQUAKE NEAR GUADELOUPE, LEEWARD ISLANDS: DEC 25, 1969 Magnitude 7.2

14. EARTHQUAKE NEAR LEEWARD ISLANDS: OCT 8, 1974 Magnitude 7.5

15. EARTHQUAKE: NEAR MARTINIQUE, WINDWARD ISLANDS: NOV 29, 2007 Magnitude 7.4

16. EARTHQUAKE: NEAR PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI; JAN 12, 2007 Magnitude 7.0 A catastrophe with an estimated 220,000 deaths and over $1 billion economic loss.

17. THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE AND THE CARIBBEAN PLATE