Haiti earthquake death toll rises as crews seek survivors | earthquake news

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Haitians scour wrecked buildings in search of friends and relatives trapped in the rubble after a devastating earthquake hit the Caribbean nation, killing nearly 1,300 people and injuring many more.

The 7.2-magnitude quake flattened hundreds of homes in the impoverished country, which is still making its way back from another major earthquake 11 years ago, and has been without a head of state since the assassination of its one last month.

At least 1,297 people were killed in the powerful earthquake, the Haitian Civil Protection Agency said Sunday evening, in an earlier update of the death toll of 724, while more than 5,700 others were injured.

In addition to the people still missing, “there are many others under the rubble,” the agency said in a statement. She added that nearly 3,200 injured in the earthquake are receiving treatment in various hospitals.

Southwest Haiti bore the brunt of the earthquake, especially in the area in and around Les Cayes. Churches, hotels, hospitals and schools were badly damaged or destroyed, while prison walls were opened by the violent vibrations that shook Haiti.

The people in Les Cayes tried to dig guests out from under the ruins of a collapsed hotel, but as the sun set, they could only retrieve the body of a 7-year-old girl whose home was behind the facility.

“I have eight children, and I was looking for the last one,” said Jean-Claude Daniel, crying. “I will never see her alive again. The earthquake destroyed my life. It took a child away from me.”

Patients are seen with their relatives outside a hospital damaged in the aftermath of the earthquake [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henri, the neurosurgeon pushed to the forefront of the country after the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, declared a one-month state of emergency on Saturday and called on Haitians to “show a lot of solidarity” in the wake of the earthquake.

Henry said in a tweet on Sunday that several emergency response teams are providing assistance to disaster victims in the southern regions of the country. “I want to be closer to the residents to help them through these difficult times. That is why I am there.

Some Haitians said they would sleep in the open, shocked by memories of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in 2010 that struck much closer to the capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed tens of thousands of people.

The country’s Civil Protection Agency tweeted on Saturday that the efforts of “professional rescuers and members of the public have pulled many people out of the rubble,” adding that already overburdened hospitals continue to receive the wounded.

Footage posted on social media showed residents reaching into narrow holes in piles of fallen stones to extricate shocked and stunned people from the wreckage of walls and ceilings that collapsed around them.

“A lot of houses were destroyed, people died and some are in hospital,” Christella St Helier, 21, who lives near the epicenter, told AFP.

Hôtel Le Manguier in Okay, #Haiti is “completely splayed” and its owner, former Senator Gabriel Fortune, is said to have been in the building when the 7.2 earthquake hit the city earlier today. pic.twitter.com/tFhzGZgWio

– HaitiInfoProj (@HaitiInfoProj) August 14, 2021

Access to the hardest-hit areas has been complicated by deteriorating law and order that has left major access routes in parts of Haiti in the hands of gangs, although unconfirmed reports on social media have indicated that they will allow aid to pass through.

Moise’s murder at his home in Port-au-Prince last month has plunged Haiti into more political instability, and observers have questioned how the Haitian government will be able to respond to the nation’s recent crisis.

Haitians have long suffered from political instability, at the hands of international aid efforts and peacekeeping deployments over the past decade.

Boarding a plane bound for Les Cayes, Henry said he wanted “organized solidarity” to ensure a coordinated response to avoid the confusion that followed the devastating 2010 earthquake, when aid was slow to reach residents.

US President Joe Biden authorized an immediate response and USAID Administrator Samantha Power said Sunday the agency will send a 65-person search and rescue team at the request of the Haitian government.

Southwest Haiti bore the brunt of the blow, particularly in and around Les Cayes. [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

A team of experts from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) office in Port-au-Prince has also been deployed to help assess the damage and coordinate the response.

“Our thoughts are with the people of Haiti on this truly sad day,” Pan American Health Organization Director Carissa Etienne said in a statement on Saturday. “We have a team of experts on the ground and ready to assist with all aspects of the health response.”

The earthquake caused tremors that reached Jamaica and Cuba, and soon the countries of the region provided assistance to Haiti.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka, whose father hails from Haiti, expressed on Twitter that she regretted the recent earthquake, saying that she would give all the prize money she won at this week’s tournament to relief efforts.

“I know that our ancestors’ blood is strong, and we will continue to rise,” she said.

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