ohEarthquake in Haiti! Magnitude 4.9 and a tragic balance: 4 dead and dozens injured. In the early hours of Tuesday, southern Haiti was shaken by an earthquake of preliminary intensity, leaving unexpected devastation in its wake.
The epicenter was located near the coastal city of jeremy, in the southwest of the country, at a depth of 10 kilometers. The authorities reported that two houses collapsed and an important connecting route was blockedgenerating devastating chaos in the area.
Eric Mpitabakana, a World Food Program officer in Jeremie, recounted with anguish how he feared for his life when the shaking shook your home. “I thought the whole house was going to fall on me,” she confessed in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
The impact was such that several children were injured as they panicked and ran for cover. Three people were found dead under the rubble of a house collapsed, as rescuers scrambled to save more lives.
The scene was heartbreaking: a crowd of people gathered around a collapsed house, desperate to find survivors among the rubble. Among his efforts, managed to rescue at least one victim, covered with a sheet. Chaos and panic gripped the streets, forcing many people to consider sleeping outdoors to protect themselves from potentially dangerous aftershocks.
Haitian geologist and engineer Claude Prepetit revealed that this earthquake was triggered by a series of smaller magnitude earthquakes that had previously been recorded in the region. However, none reached the scale of the event that took place on Tuesday, adding to the devastation in a community already hit by previous natural disasters.
This new earthquake comes almost two years after a magnitude 7.2 quake rocked southern Haiti, claiming the lives of more than 2,200 people and leaving Les Cayes in ruins. Paradoxically, some people still live in makeshift camps ever since, after losing their homes.
The impact of this tragedy adds to the challenges that Haiti faces in its recovery process, after the devastating floods over the weekendwhich left a balance of 51 dead, 140 injured and thousands of homes submerged.
The situation is critical and Prime Minister Ariel Henry has requested urgent international assistance to deal with this new emergency. Meanwhile, Haiti is facing a painful reality: a constant struggle to recover from the tragedies that have plagued it in recent years.
With information from AP
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