Earthquake in Haiti: the number of victims rose to 724 according to the latest official report | There are hundreds of injured and missing

the number of deaths left by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake recorded this Saturday in Haiti has increased a 724, according to the latest civil protection register of this country.

Haitian authorities in the previous report had confirmed 77 additional deaths and the number of victims had risen to 227.

The report of this Sunday morning adds that there are more than a thousand wounded and that the hospitals of the country are overwhelmed.

“We have recorded 160 deaths in the south, 42 in Nippes, 100 in Grand’Anse and two in the north-west,” Jerry Chandler, director of civil protection, told a press conference.

“The first interventions, carried out by both professional rescuers and members of the population, allowed to extract a lot of people from the rubble“Civil Protection lamented on his Twitter account, where he explained that “Hospitals continue to receive injuries.” At least three health centers in the towns of Pestel, Corailles and Roseaux were completely saturated with patients, according to Chandler.

Christella Saint Hilaire, who lives near the epicenter, said that “many houses are destroyed” and “aftershocks keep happening”. For his part, Job Joseph, a resident of the city of Jeremiah, in the far west of Haiti, assured that “The houses and the walls around them have collapsed. The roof of the cathedral collapsed “.

The earthquake on Saturday, which was also felt in the Dominican Republic, was recorded at 8:29 a.m. local time, about 12 kilometers from the city of Saint-Louis of the South, with an epicenter 10 kilometers deep. This was followed by a 5.2 magnitude aftershock 17 kilometers from the city of Chantal, also with the epicenter 10 kilometers deep.

The shocking earthquake it was also felt in much of the Caribbean, especially in Santiago de Cuba (about 300 km from Saint-Louis-du-Sud), where many residents have left their homes, according to Radio Rebelde. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) initially issued a tsunami warning, anticipating possible waves of up to three meters along the coast. from Haiti, but soon after he lifted it up.

Emergency state

Due to the gravity of what happened, the local government decided to declare a state of emergency for one month, as announced by the Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, who took office. July 20, 13 days after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. . . . Henry asked “to show solidarity” and not to panic, the Prime Minister also traveled to the affected areas.

“The first details of the information make us believe that there are several injured, that there are many dead and collapsed houses. Now, there are a lot of people under the rubble. Especially in hotels and places of worship, ”said Henry.

Residents shared images on social media showing efforts to pull people out of the rubble. The damage in the town of Les Cayes appears to be extensive, including the collapse of a multistory hotel. Images of the ruins of concrete buildings have also circulated, including a church in which a ceremony apparently took place on Saturday in the town of the English, in the southwest.