The 2010 Haiti earthquake has been considered as a result of a rupture that initiated on a small subsidiary fault and the rupture transitioned into larger even, but did not initiate slip on an even larger nearby structure. However, this is not the case all the time, where most of ruptures that initiated in small fault don’t transfer their energy into larger ruptures. It’s obvious that seismologists are struggling with such issue, neverthless, my question is what is the key that we should know to solve the problem?

I recommand you to check this paper:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/doi/10.1002/2014JB011595/abstract

Thamer