A research vessel from the University of Rhode Island has returned from a scientific mission to Haiti.
The Endeavor was dispatched to Haiti to trace the fault of the devastating January earthquake.
"We took core samples, which is pieces out of the bottom, on the fault, around the fault, within 100 meters of it, back on both sides to see what the bottom was," said Capt. Everett McMunn.
The goal: to try to help scientists better understand earthquakes, and the sooner this type of evidence is gathered, the better.
"It's very important to capture these events soon after they happen because it's still active and will be active in the future," said David Farmer, dean of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography.
The crew felt an aftershock estimated at 4.5 while they were there.
"It shook the ship, something I'd never heard before. We all jumped around thinking maybe we'd hit a container because there's still all kinds of debris in the water in Haiti. It's still just like you see on TV. Things are sad," McMunn said.
While the crew never actually went on shore -- their mission was off the coast -- they did help by delivering humanitarian supplies from local group Plan USA to a U.S. naval supply ship.
"These were stored all over the ship and unloaded before the scientific work began," Farmer said.
All of the samples that were gathered will be analyzed. Farmer said they hope to have preliminary results soon, but he said the overall research from this mission could continue for a year or more.
The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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