Haiti earthquake news today Death toll raised to 1297 as rescuers race to find thousands feared buried beneath rubble

AT least 1,297 people are confirmed dead after a huge 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit western Haiti on Saturday.

The quake struck 8 km from the town of Petit Trou de Nippes, about 150 km west of the capital Port-au-Prince, at a depth of 10 km, the US Geological Survey said.

More than 5,700 are injured and many more are still missing.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he was rushing aid to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals overwhelmed with incoming patients.

USGS has estimated “thousands of fatalities” are likely and “tens of thousands of injuries in poor mountainous communities" and has issued a "red alert"

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THOUSANDS OF FATALITIES EXPECTED

At least 1,297 people have died and 5,700 others are injured as buildings tumbled into rubble after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he was rushing aid to areas where towns were destroyed and hospitals overwhelmed with incoming patients.

US Geological Survey has estimated “thousands of fatalities” are likely and “tens of thousands of injuries in poor mountainous communities” and has issued a “red alert”

“High casualties are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” a statement from the agency released around an hour after the quake said.

“Past events with this alert level have required a national or international level response.”

TENNIS STAR OFFERS TO DONATE PRIZE MONEY TO HAITI

Tennis star Naomi Osaka, whose father’s family are from Haiti, expressed her sorrow about the quake, saying she would give all the prize money she won at a tournament next week to the relief efforts.

“I know our ancestors blood is strong,” she said on Twitter, “we’ll keep rising.”

Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break. I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors blood is strong we’ll keep rising 🇭🇹❤️🙏🏾

â€" NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) August 14, 2021

GANGS HINDERING RELIEF EFFORTS

Humanitarian workers said gang activity in the seaside district of Martissant, just west of the Haitian capital, was complicating relief efforts.

“Nobody can travel through the area,” Ndiaga Seck, a UNICEF spokesman in Port-au-Prince, told the AP. “We can only fly over or take another route.”

Seck said information about deaths and damage was slow coming to Port-au-Prince because of spotty internet service, but UNICEF planned to send medical supplies to two hospitals in the south, in Les Cayes and Jeremie.

REP. CORI BUSH: ‘OUR WORK IS TO SAVE LIVES’

Missouri Rep. Cori Bush said the United States must welcome refugees, including any that may come from Haiti.

Our work is to save lives.

Whether it’s Afghanistan, Haiti, Lebanon, or communities facing extreme hardship worldwideâ€"one thing we could do to save lives RIGHT NOW is become a country that welcomes more refugees with open arms.

Refugees must be welcome here.

â€" Cori Bush (@CoriBush) August 15, 2021

ACTORS SHARE LOVE FOR HAITI

Actor Jared Padalecki called the crisis in Haiti “absolutely heartbreaking.”

Misha Collins shared similar sentiments, encouraging people to donate to relief efforts.

“Heartbroken to see all the suffering in Haiti after today’s devastating earthquake,” Collins tweeted.

Our love and prayers are with the people of Haiti as the reports continue to reach us about the magnitude of the situation. Absolutely heartbreaking ❤️🙏🏻 https://t.co/59depiMfs5

â€" Jared Padalecki (@jarpad) August 15, 2021

MEDICAL NEED IS ‘BIGGEST URGENCY’ AS HOSPITALS OVERWHELMED

Haitian Prime Minister and acting President Ariel Henry has said that “medical needs” is his country’s “biggest urgency”.

“When it comes to medical needs, this is our biggest urgency. We have started to send medications and medical personnel to the facilities that are affected,” he said. “For the people who need urgent special care, we have evacuated a certain number of them, and we will evacuate some more today and tomorrow.”

The devastating earthquake has left hospitals unable to cope as they try to deal with the number of casualites.

An administrator at Hopital Saint Antoine told CNN: “There are a lot of people coming in… We don’t have enough supplies:”

SOUTHWESTERN HAITI WORST AFFECTED

Southwestern parts of Haiti appear to have borne the brunt of the earthquake, especially around the city of Les Cayes.

The latest shocking figures say at least 724 people died with an unknown number of people missing and at least 2,800 people have been injured, officials say.

Rescuers are picking through rubble in a desperate search for any survivors.

POPE URGES COUNTRIES TO SEND URGENT AID

Pope Francis has urged countries to send quick aid to the devastated country of Haiti.

“May solidarity from everyone lighten the consequences of the tragedy,” he told pilgrims and tourists at his Sunday blessing in St. Peter’s Square.

The United States sent vital supplies and deployed a 65-person urban search-and-rescue team with specialized equipment, said Samantha Power, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

STORM TO BLIGHT QUAKE-HIT HAITI

The rescue efforts are set to be made more complicated by the arrival of Tropical Storm Grace, which is set to lash Haiti with heavy rainfall on Monday.

There was also the possibility of flash flooding, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

ROADS SPLIT IN HAITI

One video showed a Haitian road split with cracks after the earthquake.

LOOK: A road was left split open in Haiti after Saturday's powerful earthquake.

Haiti's Civil Defense on Sunday said at least 724 have been killed pic.twitter.com/WOXu7et8kH

â€" Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) August 15, 2021

VICTIMS PULLED FROM THE RUBBLE

Video shows victims being pulled from the rubble after the earthquake.

“We need more than prayers,” one person said.

DEATH TOLL RISES TO 1,200

The Haitian government has confirmed over 1,200 people are dead following the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Saturday.

At least 1,297 are dead and over 5,700 are injured, according to CNN.

TROPICAL STORM GRACE COULD HIT HAITI

To make matters worse, the region may be impacted by Tropical Storm Grace early next week.

Formerly a tropical depression, Grace strengthened to tropical storm status about 400 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm is expected to bring heavy rain and flooding and could hit Haiti as soon as Monday, forecasts show.

“We’re concerned that this earthquake is just one more crisis on top of what the country is already facing â€" including the worsening political stalemate after the president’s assassination, COVID and food insecurity,” said Jean-Wickens Merone, spokesman for World Vision Haiti.

PHOTOS SHOW DEVASTATING DAMAGE

Buildings were devastated following the earthquake this weekend.

SECOND EARTHQUAKE STRUCK HAITI

Another earthquake with a 5.8 magnitude shook Haiti on Saturday night â€" less than 24 hours after the country was hit by a massive 7.2 quake that has so far claimed over 700 lives.

The 5.8 magnitude quake was measured at a depth 40 kilometers, and the tremor was felt some 38 km northwest of Les Cayes, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

According to initial reports, no casualties or damage immediately followed Saturday night’s quake.

USAID SENDING SEARCH AND RESCUE CREWS

The United States Agency for International Development is sending a search and rescue team to help search for survivors after the devastating earthquake.

“This 65-person deployment brings 52,000 pounds of specialized tools, equipment & medical supplies to assist in search operations,” a USAID administrator tweeted.

Update: at the request of Haiti’s government, @USAID has deployed an urban search & rescue team to join our #Haiti earthquake disaster response team. This 65-person deployment brings 52,000 pounds of specialized tools, equipment & medical supplies to assist in search operations.

â€" Samantha Power (@PowerUSAID) August 15, 2021

860 HOMES DESTROYED, 700 DAMAGED

Jerry Chandler, director of Haiti’s Office of Civil Protection, told reporters that the death toll stood at 304 last night.

Rescue workers and bystanders were able to pull many people to safety from the rubble.

Chandler said a partial survey of structural damage found at least 860 destroyed homes and more than 700 damaged ones.

Hospitals, schools, offices, and churches were also affected.

POPE CALLS FOR WORLD ‘SOLIDARITY’

At the Vatican, Pope Francis urged nations to send quick aid. “

May solidarity from everyone lighten the consequences of the tragedy,” he told pilgrims and tourists at his blessing this morning in St. Peter’s Square.

WARNINGS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO DONATE TO RELIEF EFFORTS

Some people on Twitter issued warnings about donating to large organizations that claim to help with disaster relief.

“If you’re planning to donate to any relief efforts in Haiti, please make sure to do as much research as possible first,” one person shared.

“A lot of big name NGOs have huge overhead costs and end up with pennies for every dollar donated towards on the ground efforts.”

A lot of organizations also tend to have leadership structures where very few Haitians are actually in positions of power.

They might have Haitian teams on the ground but they have very little actual say on how money is spent or what causes to contribute to.

â€" Michaël Brun (@MichaelBrun) August 15, 2021

AID AGENCIES URGED NOT TO SET UP MAKESHIFT CAMPS

The Haiti government has appealed to aid organizations against setting up makeshift camps and urged them to work through the planning ministry, an apparent attempt to avoid the mistakes made following the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people.

At Port-au-Prince airport, international aid workers, doctors and rescue workers waited to board flights to Les Cayes.

Floris Nesi, a doctor heading to help the relief efforts, said the tragedy has hit Haitians at a time of economic and political turmoil, making many of them even more vulnerable than in 2010.

“So we need to assist people more than after the previous earthquake,” he told Reuters in the airport.

SATURDAY’S EARTHQUAKE LINKED TO ONE IN 2010

The earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday morning occurred on the same system of faults as the one that devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, in January 2010. 

Both quakes struck on an east-west fault line at the convergence of two tectonic plates, The New York Times reports.

Susan E. Hough, a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey who studied the 2010 earthquake, said there was no doubt that it and the one Saturday were linked.

“It’s well established that you do have this domino concept,” she said, where the energy released by one earthquake alters the stress patterns elsewhere along the fault line. “But we don’t have a crystal ball that tells us which domino is going to fall next.”

WHAT PARTS OF HAITI WERE AFFECTED?

While the full extent of the destruction the earthquake inflicted it appears that two cities, Les Cayes and Jeremie, located in Haiti’s southern peninsula, were the worst hit.

Both areas reported major devastation.

Phone lines were down in Petit Trou de Nippes, the epicenter of the quake. No news emerged immediately from that city, leaving Haitian officials to fear for the worst.

SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS

There is a shortage of doctors adding to the problem of hospitals being overwhelmed.

Officials in Les Cayes believe there are only about 30 doctors for about 1 million people, the New York Times reports.

Many hospitals and clinics were heavily damaged and struggling to cope with the number of casualties.

QUAKE EPICENTER

The epicenter of the quake was about 125 kilometers (78 miles) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The widespread damage could worsen by early next week, with Tropical Storm Grace predicted to reach Haiti late Monday or early Tuesday.

PICTURED: LOCALS FORCED TO SPEND NIGHT ON THE STREETS

Families were forced to sleep out on the streets after the earthquake Locals had nowhere else to go A family eat their breakfast outside after their home was destroyed

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