Haiti rocked by powerful 7.3 earthquake

[Joanne98]

A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Haiti, rocking the capital and sparking a tsunami alert for neighbouring states.

The tremor hit at 1653 (2153 GMT), about 15km (10m) south-west of Port-au-Prince, the US Geological Survey said.

Haiti's envoy to the US said it was a "catastrophe of major proportions" as reports from the capital spoke of casualties and damage.

A hospital and other buildings are reported to have collapsed.

A visiting US official told AP the sky in the city was "just grey with dust" and he could hear distant screaming.

The low-lying impoverished state has been plagued by natural disasters.


“ I just hear a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance ”
Henry Bahn US Department of Agriculture official, visiting Haiti
The quake was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect "coasts located usually no more than a 100km <60 miles> from the earthquake epicentre".

A tsunami watch was in effect for Haiti, the neighbouring Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas.

'Rubble and wire'

Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador to the US, told CNN: "I think it is really a catastrophe of major proportions."

He said he had just spoken to a government colleague in Port-au-Prince.

An AP cameraman saw the wrecked hospital in Petionville, a hilly suburb of the capital, and Henry Bahn, a visiting official from the US Department of Agriculture, said he had seen houses which had tumbled into a ravine.

"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Mr Bahn.

He had, he continued, been walking to his hotel room when the ground began to shake.

"I just held on and bounced across the wall," he said.

"I just hear a tremendous amount of noise and shouting and screaming in the distance."

Rocks, he added, were strewn all over the place, and the ravine where several homes had fallen in was "just full of collapsed walls and rubble and barbed wire".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8455629.stm

[Mojambo]

1. Whoa. 7.3 is serious business. n/t

[fascisthunter]

2. I Hope There isn't a Tsunami...

lot's of small islands could be screwed.

[Make7]

3. Why does God keep picking on Haiti so much? ( n/t )

[Cleita]

4. How much more do the poor people of Haiti have to endure?

:-(

[applegrove]

5. Don't watch the news. The pictures are coming in and they are just awful. Vibes to all those

people.