Thousands feared dead after 'catastrophic' earthquake hits Haiti

HUNDREDS of people are feared dead in Haiti after the Carribean island was hit by a powerful earthquake last night.

The tremor hit just before 5pm local time about 10 miles southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Raymond Joseph, Haiti's envoy to the US, said it was a "catastrophe of major proportions".

A hospital and other buildings in the capital were reported to have collapsed. A visiting US official said the sky in the city was"grey with dust" and he could hear screaming.

Among the hundreds thought dead or buried under the rubble is a substantial number of United Nations personnel, after the UN headquarters on the island was flattened.

The United Nations has a 9,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti, which has been there since a rebellion in 2004.

Peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said other UN installations in the Caribbean nation were also seriously damaged.

The quake was quickly followed by major aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. Reporter Joseph Guyler Delva said: "Everything started shaking, people were screaming, houses started collapsing ... it's total chaos.

"I saw people under the rubble, and people killed."

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

Henry Bahn, an official from the US Department of Agriculture, was walking to his hotel in Port-au-Prince when the ground began to shake. He said: "I just held on and bounced across the wall.

"Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out.

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Lesson

God Bless Haiti. And if this is an act of GOD Jamaica needs to take this as a warning because the things them wha a gwan out there is not pretty. Jamaica waan clean out, too much wicked and nastiness a gwan out there.

rick oo1

Rich..i got a B in GCE OLEVELS Geography..not cxc, so if you're as smart as you think you are you'd read carefully and think outside the box...I suppose Geography is accountable for the high level of corruption and poverty thats a permanent fixture of the Haitian society...Japan gets regular earthquake, yet they're one the worlds richess nation with hardly any crime...GET the Picture now !!

Donald

Earthquake is mother nature straight. You can predict quake but you can't prevent it. The quake that hit Haiti was predicted but there is no way to know when exactly quake is going to hit you. Voodoo or God or Jesus can't help you in that situation. Hopefully something like that never ever happens to Jamaica.

kim

now is not the time to say that rick 001

Reno

God bless everybody affected.

But please, the Haitians sufferin the most now are the same 1's who've always suffered due to the corruption of leaders at home & abroad. Don't 4get why the country so poor. When they became the 1st black republic/1st free black country outside of Africa, they had to pay millions (billions in todays money) in compensation to France for the slaves the French 'lost'! They only jus finish paying the interest! France should pay every penny back, cos right now Haiti needs it more than ever!