Photos and videos: the earthquake in Haiti has already killed 304 people and there are still hundreds of missing

A little over a month after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Haiti was hit again this time by a earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale that he’s already gone at least 304 dead in a country which has not yet recovered from the devastating earthquake of 2010 and which continues to be plunged into a deep social, economic and political crisis.

Anguish reigns in this Caribbean country as the relief operations progress, where the figure quickly rose from 227 dead to 304. “We recorded 160 dead in the south, 42 in Nippes, 100 in Grand’Anse and two in the northwest, “he said. Kerry Chandler, director of civil protection at a press conference.

According to the local civil protection agency, which in turn added that there are still hundreds of wounded and missing, while aftershocks continue to worsen the situation. For its part, the government has decreed a emergency state in response to the disaster.

At around 8:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. in Argentina) the shock broke out which was felt throughout Haiti. A few minutes later, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) sent tsunami warning but ultimately lifted it.

Religious buildings, schools and homes were damaged by the earthquake, according to residents of the affected area who continue to share images on social media showing desperate efforts to remove those who remain in the rubble of the buildings collapsed.

Property damage in the towns of Jérémie and Los Cayos includes collapsed multi-story hotels on the southwest peninsula of the island of Hispaniola that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, according to the news agency. AFP.

Médecins Sans Frontières has permanently closed its office in Port-au-Prince

Several world leaders have expressed their solidarity with Haiti, including the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez and Joe Biden, who approved “immediate” aid, a White House official told local media.

For his part, the Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel henri, called for national unity. “I am mobilizing all the resources of my administration to come to the aid of the victims”, he writes in Twitter the president who took office at the end of July.

Haiti: the path to building peace

Saturday’s earthquake comes just over a month after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in his home by an armed commando, shocking a country already struggling with poverty, growing criminal gang violence and the pandemic of Covid-19. As part of the investigation into the incident, 44 people have already been arrested.

Haiti: a doctor is arrested as an orchestrator suspected of the murder of Jovenel Moïse

Haiti, a country crossed by natural disasters

The earthquake that shook Haiti on Saturday recalled the devastating scenario left by the earthquake of January 2010, after which the capital Port-au-Prince and neighboring towns were left in ruins.

The result of the devastating 7-point earthquake on the Richter scale was the death of more than 200,000 people, 300,000 people injured, more than a million and a half Haitians were left homeless after the destruction of thousands of houses. In addition, 60 percent of the country’s health system has been destroyed.

Since then, the country has plunged into a deep social and economic crisis, which is why it has been repeatedly classified as a “failed state”. Reconstruction of the country’s main hospital remains incomplete, and non-governmental organizations have sought to address the state’s many shortcomings.

CD / ED