The earthquake toll rises to 724 dead



The provisional toll of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday grew heavier on Sunday, reaching 724 dead and more than 2,800 injured recorded, according to the country’s civil protection services.

“The human toll of the earthquake rose at the start of the day of August 15 to 724 dead: 500 in the South, 100 in Grand’Anse, 122 in Nippes and 2 in the North-West,” said a statement.

Rescuers looking for survivors

On Sunday, rescue teams were looking for survivors, after the earthquake which occurred on Saturday at 08:29 (12:29 GMT) 12 km from the city of Saint-Louis-du-Sud, located some 160 km from the Haitian capital Port -au-Prince, according to data from the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS). Many buildings collapsed during the powerful earthquake that trapped hundreds of residents under concrete slabs.

Residents mobilized to help victims injured in the collapse of buildings. “The first interventions, carried out by both professional rescuers and members of the population made it possible to extract many people from the rubble”, underlined the civil protection services.

More than 1,800 people were injured in the earthquake and the few hospitals in the affected regions are already struggling to provide emergency care.

State of emergency declared for one month

The head of government, Ariel Henry, who flew over the worst affected areas by helicopter on Saturday, announced that a state of emergency had been declared for one month in the four departments affected by the disaster. Staff and medicines have been dispatched by the Ministry of Health to the southwestern peninsula, but emergency logistics are threatened by the insecurity that has plagued Haiti for months.

Over a little over two kilometers, the only road connecting the capital to the southern half of the country crosses the poor neighborhood of Martissant under the control of armed gangs since early June, preventing free movement. “All the aid must be able to pass,” Prime Minister Ariel Henry said on Saturday evening.

On the south coast, a multi-story hotel, called Le Manguier, collapsed in Les Cayes, Haiti’s third largest city. The lifeless body of former Haitian senator Gabriel Fortuné, owner of the hotel, was removed from the rubble. His death has been confirmed by the Prime Minister.

“The roof of the cathedral has fallen”

The long shock was felt across the country. With more than 200,000 inhabitants, the agglomeration of Jérémie, at the southwestern end of the peninsula, suffered extensive damage in the city center. “The roof of the cathedral fell”, detailed, resident of Jeremiah. “The main street is blocked”.

“I was at home when it started to shake, I was near a window and I saw all the things falling,” said Christella Saint Hilaire, 21, who lives in the town of L’Asile, near from the epicenter of the earthquake. “A piece of wall fell on my back but I’m not too hurt.”

Relief efforts could be hampered as Tropical Storm Grace approaches, with the risk of torrential rains and rapid flooding, according to the US National Weather Service.

International aid is organized

US President Joe Biden on Saturday offered “immediate” assistance from the United States. He tasked the director of the United States International Aid Agency (USAID), Samantha Powers, to coordinate this effort. For his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres assured “to follow the latest developments in the tragedy in Haiti”. “The United Nations is working to support emergency needs,” he tweeted.

The Dominican Republic, neighboring Haiti on the same island, has announced the dispatch of 10,000 emergency rations and medical equipment. Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela have also offered to help, as has Ecuador, which sends a team of 34 firefighters to participate in the search. And Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez assured Haitians that they could “count on help from Spain”.

The 253 Cuban doctors present in the country to cooperate in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic were adapting a hospital in Port-au-Prince to receive the wounded.

For her part, the Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, whose father is Haitian, will offer all of the earnings she will receive during an upcoming tournament to the victims of the earthquake. “This devastation really hurts,” she wrote on twitter.

The “solidarity” of Pope Francis

“I wish to express my solidarity with the populations hard hit by the earthquake,” Pope Francis said during his traditional Angelus prayer in public in Saint-Pierre Square, calling on the international community to come to the aid of Haiti.

“I address words of encouragement to the survivors, hoping that the international community gets involved on their behalf and that the solidarity of all can mitigate the consequences of the tragedy,” he concluded.

The trauma of the 2010 earthquake

In the country, the poorest country on the American continent, this magnitude 7.2 earthquake revived terrible memories of the great earthquake of 2010, which devastated the capital and several provincial towns. More than 200,000 people were killed and more than 300,000 others were injured in the disaster.

More than a million and a half Haitians were left homeless, placing the authorities and the international humanitarian community before the colossal challenge of reconstruction in a country without land registry or town planning rules. Without succeeding in meeting this reconstruction challenge, Haiti, regularly hit by hurricanes, plunged into an acute socio-political crisis.



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