There's a great comment in this[0] Reddit thread that explains that while the quake in Chile registered higher on the Richter scale, that scale is not appropria

There's a great comment in this[0] Reddit thread that explains that while the quake in Chile registered higher on the Richter scale, that scale is not appropriate for judging the affect a quake has on buildings on the surface. Using the correct metric, the Haiti quake was far more damaging. Which isn't to say that building codes wouldn't have made a difference, just that the obvious conclusions are not necessarily accurate. [0] http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/b794q/the_88_chile_earthquake_killed_around_100200/ http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/b794q/the_88_chile_...