Status: 08/14/2021 5:37 p.m.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake severely shook the south of the Caribbean state of Haiti. The number of fatalities is still unclear. A tsunami warning previously issued by the authorities has now been lifted.
A severe earthquake hit the south of the Caribbean state of Haiti. The US agency USGS gave the strength as 7.2. According to the news agency KNA, the cities of Les Cayes and Jeremie were particularly hard hit: The roof of the cathedral in Jeremie collapsed, reports the newspaper “Avvenire”. At least two people were killed. The authorities spoke of several deaths, but a more precise number of fatalities is not initially available, said Haiti’s disaster control chief Jerry Chandler of the AFP news agency. The US agency USGS considers a high number of victims to be possible after the severe earthquake on the coast of Haiti.
Initially, the authorities issued a tsunami warning. However, according to the dpa news agency, this was lifted again. The US National Weather Service (NOAA) advised people to remain cautious. In the coastal areas near the earthquake, there could still be minor fluctuations in sea level of up to 30 centimeters, it said.
According to official information, the quake occurred around 12 kilometers from the municipality of Saint-Louis-du-Sud at a depth of around ten kilometers. Numerous houses are reported to have been destroyed by the quake. In the capital, Port-au-Prince, many people ran out of their homes in a panic. The exact extent of the damage was initially unclear.
“All I could do was run”
The 34-year-old woman said she was woken from sleep by the morning quake. Your bed wobbled. “I didn’t even have time to put my shoes on,” she said. “We saw the quake in 2010 and all I could do was run. It wasn’t until then that I remembered that my two children and my mother were still inside. My neighbor went back in and told them to come out. ”
Natural disasters and political instability
Haiti was nearly devastated by a severe earthquake in 2010. At the center of the earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.3, was Haiti’s densely populated capital, Port-au-Prince. Around 222,000 people died and more than 300,000 were injured as a result of the quake. More than a million people lost their homes.
In 2016, Haiti was hit by Hurricane Matthew, killing hundreds. In addition to natural disasters, Haiti is also grappling with marauding criminal gangs and political instability. President Jovenel Moïse was only murdered in July.