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I had not even been to the DR yet when the 2003 eq happened near POP. However, I can tell you that in my husband's home town, Montellano, I have seen the damage that the 2003 quake caused. One of our friend's homes has a two inch crack from floor to ceiling on one wall caused during the quake (a cement block home with rebar). My husband's grandmother's home (a wood siding home with a poured cement floor) was completely destabalized by the quake. The family had to re-secure all the supporting beams before anyone could return to live in the house.

With the news of the earthquake in Haiti, my husband recounts the earthquake of 2003 saying he thought his cousins were shaking his bed to wake him up when in fact it was the earthquake and everyone ran into the streets to safety.

We have yet to build a home on our property in POP and this is a good lesson of structural precautions that we have to make sure are taken!!!