A huge earthquake which hit south of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince is feared to have killed hundreds of people across the Caribbean country.
The 7.0-magnitude quake, which struck about 10 miles south-west of the capital city, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.
Haiti's worst quake for two centuries wrecked the national palace, the headquarters of the UN mission and numerous other buildings.
It collapsed a hospital in Petionville and sparked "total disaster and chaos", according to an aid worker. Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a clear picture of damage as powerful aftershocks shook a desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy.
Karel Zelenka, a Roman Catholic Relief Services representative in the capital of Port-au-Prince, told US colleagues before phone services failed "there must be thousands of people dead," according to a spokeswoman for the aid group Sara Fajardo.
"He reported that it was just total disaster and chaos, that there were clouds of dust surrounding Port-au-Prince," Ms Fajardo said from the group's offices in Maryland.
The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0, said the US Geological Survey (USGS). It had a depth of five miles. It was the largest quake recorded in the area and the first major one since a magnitude 6.7 quake in 1984, said USGS analyst Dale Grant.
The headquarters of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti sustained "serious damage" as the quake struck and a large number of UN personnel in Haiti are unaccounted for, said UN spokesman Alain Le Roy.
He said the UN Peacekeeping Department is still in the process of gathering information on the extent of the damage and the status of UN personnel following the "catastrophic earthquake". The United Nations has a 9,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti, which has been there since a rebellion in 2004.
Elsewhere in the capital, a US government official reported seeing houses that had tumbled into a ravine. Haiti's ambassador to the US, Raymond Joseph, said from his Washington office that he had spoked to President Rene Preval's chief of staff, Fritz Longchamp, just after the quake hit. He said Mr Longchamp told him that "buildings were crumbling right and left" near the national palace. He said he had not been able to get through by phone to Haiti since.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23794269-hundreds-feared-dead-in-haiti-quake.do
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RIP.
The 7.0-magnitude quake, which struck about 10 miles south-west of the capital city, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.
Haiti's worst quake for two centuries wrecked the national palace, the headquarters of the UN mission and numerous other buildings.
It collapsed a hospital in Petionville and sparked "total disaster and chaos", according to an aid worker. Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a clear picture of damage as powerful aftershocks shook a desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy.
Karel Zelenka, a Roman Catholic Relief Services representative in the capital of Port-au-Prince, told US colleagues before phone services failed "there must be thousands of people dead," according to a spokeswoman for the aid group Sara Fajardo.
"He reported that it was just total disaster and chaos, that there were clouds of dust surrounding Port-au-Prince," Ms Fajardo said from the group's offices in Maryland.
The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0, said the US Geological Survey (USGS). It had a depth of five miles. It was the largest quake recorded in the area and the first major one since a magnitude 6.7 quake in 1984, said USGS analyst Dale Grant.
The headquarters of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti sustained "serious damage" as the quake struck and a large number of UN personnel in Haiti are unaccounted for, said UN spokesman Alain Le Roy.
He said the UN Peacekeeping Department is still in the process of gathering information on the extent of the damage and the status of UN personnel following the "catastrophic earthquake". The United Nations has a 9,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti, which has been there since a rebellion in 2004.
Elsewhere in the capital, a US government official reported seeing houses that had tumbled into a ravine. Haiti's ambassador to the US, Raymond Joseph, said from his Washington office that he had spoked to President Rene Preval's chief of staff, Fritz Longchamp, just after the quake hit. He said Mr Longchamp told him that "buildings were crumbling right and left" near the national palace. He said he had not been able to get through by phone to Haiti since.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23794269-hundreds-feared-dead-in-haiti-quake.do
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RIP.
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