At least 227 killed after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hits Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – At least 227 people were killed, hundreds injured and missing after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday, and Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he was rushing aid to areas where towns had been devastated. Hospitals are overcrowded with incoming patients.

The US Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was 125 kilometers (78 miles) west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and widespread damage was reported.

Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said the death toll had reached 227 and that search teams would be sent to the area. On Saturday afternoon, the agency said on Twitter, that rescue workers and passersby were able to pull several people out of the rubble. She said the wounded were still being taken to hospitals.

Henry declared a month-long state of emergency for the entire country and said he would not seek international assistance until the extent of the damage was known. He said some towns were almost completely destroyed and the government had people in the coastal town of Les Caye to help plan and coordinate the response.

“The most important thing is to get as many survivors back as possible under the rubble,” Henry said. “We have learned that local hospitals, particularly Les Cayes Hospital, are overcrowded with the wounded and the broken.”

He said the International Red Cross and hospitals in unaffected areas were helping care for the wounded, and Haitians pleaded for unity.

“The needs are enormous. We must take care of the wounded and the broken, and also provide food, aid, temporary shelter and psychological support.”

Later, as he boarded a plane bound for Les Cayes, Henry said he wanted “organized solidarity” to ensure the response was coordinated to avoid the confusion that followed the devastating 2010 earthquake, when aid was slow to reach residents after numbering 300,000. killing.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Saturday morning, listened to a briefing on the Haiti earthquake, according to the White House. Biden authorized an immediate response and appointed USAID Administrator Samantha Power as the senior official coordinating the effort.

A growing number of countries have offered assistance, including Argentina and Chile, which have said they are preparing to send humanitarian aid. “Once again, Haiti has been hit hard,” Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said.

Among those killed in the earthquake was Gabriel Fortuny, a longtime lawmaker and former mayor of Lee Kay. Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported that he and many others died when his Le Manguier hotel collapsed.

Philip Botin, 37, who lives in Puerto Rico but visits his family annually in Les Caye, said his mother had been praying when the shaking started, but was able to leave the house.

The quake coincided with celebrations of the city’s saint, he said, adding that the hotel was likely full and the small town had more people than usual.

“We still don’t know how many people are under the rubble,” he said.

Humanitarian workers said information about deaths and damage was slow to reach Port-au-Prince because of the spotty internet service. Relief efforts also complicate gang activity in the coastal region of Martissant, west of the Haitian capital.

“No one can travel through the region,” Ndiaga Sik, a UNICEF spokesperson in Port-au-Prince, said by phone. “We can just fly or take another route.”

Sick said UNICEF plans to send medical supplies to two hospitals in the south – in Les Caye and Jeremy.

The reports of overcrowded hospitals come as Haiti grapples with the pandemic and lacks resources to deal with it. Just last month, the country of 11 million people received the first batch of coronavirus vaccines donated by the United States, via a United Nations program for low-income countries.

Videos posted on social media showed collapsed buildings near the epicenter and people fleeing into the streets.

The earthquake was felt in Port-au-Prince and many rushed into the streets in fear, although there seemed to be no damage there.

Naomi Vernus, 34, a resident of Port-au-Prince, said she woke up from the earthquake and her bed was shaking.

“I woke up and didn’t have time to put my shoes on. We lived through the 2010 earthquake and all I could do was run. Later I remembered my two children and my mother were still inside. My neighbor came in and asked them to get out. We ran into the street,” Vernius said.

The aftershocks will likely last for weeks or months, said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey, with the largest recorded so far with a magnitude of 5.2.

The poor country, where many live in fragile conditions, is prone to earthquakes and hurricanes. It was hit by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake in 2018 that killed more than a dozen people, and a larger 7.1-magnitude earthquake devastated most of the capital in 2010 and claimed an estimated 300,000 lives.

The National Hurricane Center forecast Tropical Storm Grace to reach Haiti late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.

The earthquake occurred more than a month after President Jovenel Moise was killed, sending the country into political chaos. His widow, Martin Moyes, posted a message on Twitter calling for unity among Haitians: “Let us come together to achieve solidarity. This is the bond that makes us strong and resilient. Courageous. I am always by your side.”

Humanitarian aid groups said the earthquake would only exacerbate the nation’s suffering.

“We are concerned that this earthquake is just another crisis on top of what the country is already facing – including the worsening political impasse following the assassination of the president, coronavirus and food insecurity,” said Jean Wickens Meron, a spokesperson for World Vision Haiti. .

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AP writer Evins Sanon reported this story in Port-au-Prince and AP writer Tami Webber reports from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Washington and Daniel Trenton in New York contributed to this report.

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